Experience of WBBL will help us: Sophie Devine

Big-hitting allrounder Sophie Devine might be relatively new to captaincy but feels that she has what it takes to lead New Zealand well in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup starting February 21.

“Captaincy is a huge honour but I’m a player like all the rest of my team, so I’ve got to keep doing my job and performing for my teammates," the 30-year-old said, speaking at the captains’ media day at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

Devine was thrust into full-time captaincy ahead of South Africa series taking the mantle from Amy Satterthwaite who recently gave birth to her first child. The right-hander notched five fifty-plus scores in as many consecutive innings in the T20I series including a hundred, thus becoming the first in history (male or female) to do so. New Zealand went on to win the series 3-1 giving Devine had a good start to her captaincy stint ahead of the showpiece event.

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“I’ve been around a while and have seen a lot. I know cricket can be a really fickle game – you’ve got to ride the highs and lows of it and if I can stay nice and calm, it makes it even more special. Every win at a World Cup is a must-win game. You look at how the teams have played, including the way Thailand played in the Qualifiers, and you can’t take any side for granted," added the skipper.

Devine was named the player of the tournament in the Women's Big Bash League season five steering Adelaide Strikers to the finals with 764 runs which included 29 sixes. Besides Devine, her New Zealand teammates Amelia Kerr, Maddy Green, Suzie Bates and Rachel Priest too had a good tournament for their respective franchises. Devine believes that experience will stand the team in good shape ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia.

“We had microphones in the changing room as well so we were listening in," she joked. “Players have had success and it brings a level of confidence to the team. We’ll have a lot of experience and learnings from the WBBL."

“We’ve got a really tough group and the teams in the other one have as well, so we’re really looking forward to taking on the big guns. Every game is one we really aim for,” Devine concluded.