New Zealand Women gear up for ODI World Cup with Chennai camp

New Zealand have stepped up their preparations for the upcoming Women’s ODI World Cup in India and Sri Lanka with a two-week training camp in spin-friendly conditions at the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Academy in Chennai.

While several Black Caps, including Rachin Ravindra, have visited the high-performance facility in recent years, this marks the White Ferns’ first specialised overseas camp. Head coach Ben Sawyer, who is working with ten New Zealand players in Chennai alongside assistant coach Craig McMillan, described the timing of the camp as perfect.

"Yeah, 100% correct. It's currently winter in New Zealand, there's no cricket and we're nearly two months out of the World Cup. So, to have that prep time in India, we've been able to bring seven contracted players and then three of our players of interest along. So, the girls that we think will play lots of cricket in India in the future as well. So yeah, it's been an amazing experience so far," Sawyer said to ESPNcricinfo.

Seam-bowling allrounder Jess Kerr, opening batter Georgia Plimmer, and Brooke Halliday, who scored 38 off 28 balls in New Zealand's victory in last year’s T20 World Cup final, are among the seven contracted players on tour. Emerging players Izzy Sharp, Flore Devonshire, and Emma McLeod have also been included.

After the Chennai camp, the White Ferns will return home before likely heading to Dubai to play one-day matches against England as preparation for the ODI World Cup, which begins on September 30. Head coach Ben Sawyer believes that exposure to the challenging conditions in Chennai and Dubai will help fine-tune New Zealand’s players for similar environments during the tournament.

"Yeah, it's hugely beneficial and even more so this year because just with the FTP cycle, we've had no official matches since February. So to get these three one-day games in Chennai, to get two or three games in Dubai against England, a really strong opposition, will be great and then we also get the two World Cup warm-up games. So that's seven or eight games we're going to get in similar conditions. Yeah, that's just huge for us," Sawyer said.

New Zealand’s team management is also relying on support from High Performance Sport New Zealand and Dr. Kirsty Farbairn, an experienced dietitian who has worked with both the White Ferns and the Black Ferns (women’s rugby team), to ensure players are well cared for in subcontinental conditions.

"We've actually tried to train really hard the last five days and I guess in a way not to recover, try to just do it naturally and let your bodies adapt to the conditions. And now we're playing the three games, we'll try and recover really well,” said Sawyer.

"But yeah, we've actually tried to expose ourselves as much to the heat as we can. So, we've had some really good help from High Performance Sport New Zealand and a guy that helped with the Tokyo Olympics and how they dealt with the heat. He's basically told us that the week here and then the week in Dubai are probably perfect timings for the World Cup," he added.

The presence of India internationals like Asha Sobhana and D Hemalatha, Tamil Nadu’s teenage prodigy G Kamalini, who won the WPL 2025 with Mumbai Indians, and Swiss international Meghna Rajan has added a competitive edge to the camp. On Saturday, Asha bowled out Polly Inglis and challenged other New Zealand batters with her loopy leg breaks and deceptive wrong’uns on a sluggish pitch.

"Getting balls to face in New Zealand during the winter is really difficult. We've had WPL players come down to bowl to us and Asha from RCB is with us here in the camp and it's been great for our girls to chat to her and learn about these conditions,” said Sawyer.

Just a few days into the camp, Sawyer is impressed by the New Zealand batters’ positive approach against spin bowling.

"I think Izzy Sharp is a great example today. She made 80. She played a lot off the back foot, but then was able to get really close into the pitch of the ball. And Sri (Sriram Krishnamurthy, former NZC pathway coach who is now CSK academy's head coach) was great the other day, gave us a bit of a masterclass in playing spin,” said Sawyer.

"And it was great to see Izzy use her feet today and get down the wicket really quickly. Maddy Green's a great player. She did it her way [with sweeps and reverse-sweeps], she did it in a different way to Izzy, but both were successful and that's what we've spoken about," he added.

While the team is sweating it out in Chennai, Suzie Bates posted a career-best 163 for Durham last month, and Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr are currently competing in The Hundred. Though it is still winter in New Zealand, the team management has taken steps to ensure the players will not arrive at the World Cup underprepared.

"You can see we brought a lot of younger players because the likes of Sophie, Suzie and Lea Tahuhu have been here before and Sophie is at the Hundred. Paul Wiseman is with our spinners in Lincoln and a few of our quicks are working with Graeme [Alridge] in various locations. So, everyone's getting what they need. Some players are actually doing a few sessions in heat chambers back home. I think we're doing as much as we can to prepare for the conditions [at the World Cup]," said Sawyer.