Amy Satterthwaite, who has been appointed as Sophie Devine’s deputy, acknowledged that she is disappointed at having lost her captaincy. Devine was named the captain when the latter took a maternity break in August.
Amy Satterthwaite, however, supported Devine and focused on making a comeback to international cricket. “It was obviously disappointing not to retain the captaincy,” she said. “I really enjoyed the opportunity to do it last year, It’s always a real an honour to lead your country.
“But I’ve got a different focus now in terms of getting back to being able to play cricket at the international level,” Satterthwaite said. “I’m really excited about the challenge that lies ahead. Looking forward as well to supporting Sophie (Devine), and I’ve always, I guess, been in and around the leadership group over the last few years, even when Suzie (Bates) was involved. So I think it doesn’t change in terms of offering that leadership, in that sense.
“It’s nice to be back. Good to be back around the girls. The banter’s always good fun. To get back to hitting balls, and feeling like I hadn’t left to a certain extent, but it’s always different to be back on grass too, it’s a different challenge. I think I sort of took my time to ease back into it, and not rush it too much, and I guess let the body adjust back. Adjustments been going pretty well so far, thankfully. I was a bit nervous, to be honest, to be hitting balls for the first time, but somewhere deep within there was that sort of muscle memory of being able to do it, and thankfully it’s been going alright, and dusting off the cobwebs.”
Devine will not only be supported by Amy Satterthwaite, but also can bank on the experience of former captain Suzie Bates. Satterthwaite emphasised that the experience will help the team as a whole when it comes to prepping up fro the 2021 World Cup.
“Yeah, absolutely, the three wise women, as we probably call ourselves,” she pointed out. “We’ve been around for a wee while now, and got a lot of experience. That’s sort of the beauty of the group we’ve got. People that we can lean on. I guess between the three of us, we’ve probably got different strengths that we can offer towards the group from a leadership point of view, that’s always a real asset, I think.
“We’re really looking forward to (the World Cup), and we’ve got a lot of hard work to do between now and then, and hopefully going ahead. But we’re really excited about what that opportunity offers us as a group.”
New Zealand men and women cricketers have resumed to practice in different squads in an area called Lincoln in the country.
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