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The White Ferns have announced their 2024/25 contract offers with relatively minimal changes compared to last season.
Lauren Down is set to return to the White Ferns contract list for the coming season, following her maternity break last season. Wicketkeeper-batter Polly Inglis is the new player yet to make her international debut on the list.
28-year-old Inglis has been in the Otago Sparks set-up since 2012 and has amassed 199 games for the team (107 OD, 92 T20). She was the second-highest run scorer in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield with 324 runs across ten innings, including 35* in the final to take her side to victory over Wellington.
Inglis did feature in all six matches for New Zealand A against England A in March, scoring 130 runs in five innings.
Down’s return to the contract list is off the back of her being named in the White Ferns ODI squad to face England next month, highlighting a remarkable return following the birth of her first child.
Bernadine Bezudeinhout drops off the contract list from last season following her announcement last month that was retiring from international cricket. Canterbury batter Kate Anderson is the other player not to receive an offer this coming season.
Regular players such as Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates, Amelia Kerr, Maddy Green, and Lea Tahuhu have all retained their spots on the contract list. Youngsters Eden Carson, Fran Jonas, Molly Penfold, Izzy Gaze, and Georgia Plimmer are all retained following their ascension into the national setup following the disastrous ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 campaign.
Allrounders Jess Kerr, Brooke Halliday, and Hannah Rowe along with bowlers Molly Penfold and Hayley Jensen all find themselves on the list for the 2024/25 season.
Head coach Ben Sawyer said that the list is “strong” and that “we think they are going to play an important part over the next 12 months.”
On the inclusion of Inglis, he said “Polly’s had a great domestic season with both bat and gloves and for that, she’s been rewarded with a contract.”
Sawyer also made the point that Gaze is the number one keeper at the moment and that a backup was needed. The White Ferns focus is on planning for the Women’s ODI Cricket World Cup in 2025 and a big part of the selection process in the contract list was looking at who could take part in it, Sawyer said.
White Ferns central contract offers 2024-25: Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Sophie Devine, Lauren Down, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Polly Inglis, Hayley Jensen, Fran Jonas, Jess Kerr, Melie Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu
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