I had been thinking about retiring for a while and had spoken to my friends and family at Christmas about the thoughts of retiring. I know it is probably a bit odd at the timing of my retirement ahead of the World Twenty20 but I have had plenty of agonising hours deciding when it was right. I know in my heart before the World Cup that it was time. I thoroughly enjoyed the World Cup and I always wanted to retire on a high note and I feel I have done that. There is a new era of young talented White Ferns that I know will continue to represent our country with huge pride and passion. I know they will continue doing well. I will always be following the girls’ journey.
One reason for my decision to retire was the loss of earnings for us while we are on tour. It is very difficult to balance full time teaching and full-time cricket. If I was paid I probably would still be playing. It is hard to keep the balance and I know it has been my choice for the past few years and I certainly did not play for money, I played because I am hugely passionate about cricket and my country. The positive thing in the women’s game is that the playing programme for the women has grown but there is far more of a time commitment now in order to prepare for those tours and I suppose the loss of earnings on tour did come into account in my decision to retire. It is not the main reason but certainly a part of the reason.
Continue reading "The pride of playing for New Zealand"
A batting lesson from New Zealand
Continue reading "A batting lesson from New Zealand"
World Cup final - here we come
What a game! We have made it to the World Cup final in quite some style. I am particularly chuffed about Suzie Bates’ 168 and our world-record stand – highest for the second wicket in women’s ODI. Her effort was fantastic, she is a very clean hitter of the ball and began very aggressively. The lightning quick outfield just made things a little easier. Some of her six sixes – another record – went right out the park and I can tell you that’s a pure joy to watch. But we didn’t get distracted by getting fours and sixes and also concentrated on accumulating singles. Looking back, 400 was possible but we were just looking to get as many runs as possible. Our batting is peaking at the right time and today we didn’t mess around with the line-up much. It’s a settled batting order which makes me feel at ease ahead of meeting England. I know we took 48 overs to bowl Pakistan out but it doesn’t worry me – their openers batted really well and the rest of the line-up hardly played any shots to give us a chance. There is still some concern over the fielding – we conceded many overthrows today – and that is an area we really need to work on.
Rebecca Rolls, our former keeper, is holidaying in Australia right now and I must say she timed it well! She has always been a great supporter and morale-booster for us since she retired, always sending us texts and emails encouraging us. She is spending time with the team right now and was part of the side that rattled up 455 against Pakistan in 1997. How cool would that have been? She was certainly pleased by the show we put up.
Continue reading "World Cup final - here we come"
April 2, 2009
The pride of playing for New Zealand
Posted by Haidee Tiffen on 04/02/2009 in New Zealand cricket
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One reason for my decision to retire was the loss of earnings for us while we are on tour. It is very difficult to balance full time teaching and full-time cricket. If I was paid I probably would still be playing. It is hard to keep the balance and I know it has been my choice for the past few years and I certainly did not play for money, I played because I am hugely passionate about cricket and my country. The positive thing in the women’s game is that the playing programme for the women has grown but there is far more of a time commitment now in order to prepare for those tours and I suppose the loss of earnings on tour did come into account in my decision to retire. It is not the main reason but certainly a part of the reason.
Continue reading "The pride of playing for New Zealand"
March 20, 2009
A batting lesson from New Zealand
Posted by Urooj Mumtaz on 03/20/2009 in Women's World Cup, 2009
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We always knew that the World Cup was going to be a learning experience and if we needed a lesson in how to deliver one of the best batting performances of all time then we saw it on Thursday with Suzie Bates and Haidee Tiffen’s amazing 262-run partnership.
Suzie’s innings in particular was the best-ever innings I have ever seen, even if we did help her by bowling both sides of the wicket. The way she powerfully struck our bowlers all around the ground was quite incredible and a great lesson for us to observe.
The New Zealand and Pakistan teams have become very close during this event, ever since we played a warm-up game against each other, and they have been very helpful at passing on tips to us about how to make it at the top level.
Continue reading "A batting lesson from New Zealand"
March 19, 2009
World Cup final - here we come
Posted by Haidee Tiffen on 03/19/2009 in Women's World Cup, 2009
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Our batting is peaking at the right time and today we didn’t mess around with the line-up much. It’s a settled batting order which makes me feel at ease ahead of meeting England. I know we took 48 overs to bowl Pakistan out but it doesn’t worry me – their openers batted really well and the rest of the line-up hardly played any shots to give us a chance. There is still some concern over the fielding – we conceded many overthrows today – and that is an area we really need to work on.
Rebecca Rolls, our former keeper, is holidaying in Australia right now and I must say she timed it well! She has always been a great supporter and morale-booster for us since she retired, always sending us texts and emails encouraging us. She is spending time with the team right now and was part of the side that rattled up 455 against Pakistan in 1997. How cool would that have been? She was certainly pleased by the show we put up.
Continue reading "World Cup final - here we come"
March 17, 2009
Another step towards the World Cup final
I have to say I am really proud of the way New Zealand bounced back from the defeat against England to beat India today. We are getting closer to the World Cup final but that doesn’t mean we can take Pakistan – our next Super Six opponents - lightly.
And we still have to improve in some of the areas, especially fielding. We need to take the opportunities we get: today we missed some run-outs and dropped a few catches and that can hurt us in the long run. Overall we have to be more consistent.
We gave away 21 wides today but you know it’s not like the bowlers mean to bowl them. As a captain, I try and encourage my players, give the bowlers time to settle down and have a chat with them if required. After the game today we had a de-briefing where the bowlers acknowledged that they needed to work on their lines better.
The Indian lower order, led by Reema Malhotra, batted really well and I don’t think we could have done anything to stop them. India have been successful in scoring that way – they have started out slow and taken advantage of the Powerplays to get the runs. They have relied on scoring in the death overs and that’s what they did today as well.
I am also happy that our top order is taking the responsibility of batting through the innings. Suzie [Bates] did that for us today. Learning from our failed run-chase against England, we drew up a gameplan where we wanted Kate Pulford to go out and play her attacking shots while I consolidated. Then Suzie would come in and take charge. She did just that today; it was a very mature innings from her and I can tell you she’s stoked about it.
The pitch was very good and we know the Indian spinners can tie us down so we wanted to get going before they came on.
While our net run-rate is lower than India’s and Australia’s, I think we just need to concentrate on winning against Pakistan to reach the final. It’s not too far away now!
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