By Admin 
Head coach Ben Sawyer will have to plan for life after Sophie Devine, who bids adieu to ODIs after Sunday’s game, a theme that dominated New Zealand’s pre-match press conference ahead of its Women’s ODI World Cup match against England.
“We spent a lot of time trying to develop young players. We always knew that Soph and potentially Suzie [Bates], soon and Lea [Tahuhu], they are going to move on. A conscious decision was made a couple of years ago to closely examine some younger players and maintain faith in them,” Sawyer said at the ACA-VDCA Stadium on Saturday.
The coach added that the management has been having conversations with the “leadership group” and that he will reveal who will helm the side in ODIs at a later time.
“We’ve been having these chats for many years. It started when Soph spoke about stepping away from the captaincy at the [2024] T20 World Cup, and she did that. So even before that, we’ve had those chats. We’ve identified players that we think could make up a bit of a leadership group, and we’ve spoken to who we think will captain the team. But I’ll probably keep that to myself just at the moment,” Sawyer added.
For England, the match is all about gaining momentum ahead of the last-four stage, and Tammy Beaumont said the team was ready for the challenge.
“If you want to win the World Cup, you’ve got to beat the best teams, whether it’s Australia, South Africa or even India, bring it on. We’re going to have to win”.