Former New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter Rachel Priest says the White Ferns need to regroup quickly in order to get their World Cup hopes back in order.
Bob Carter’s side were brushed aside by Australia in Wellington on Sunday, losing by 141 runs in their fourth match of the tournament on home soil.
On the back of an impressive victory over India, the Kiwis failed miserably in their pursuit of the 270 total set, bowled out for 128.
The result has heaped enormous pressure on the White Ferns to progress from the group stage to the knockout phase, with three wins likely required to achieve that goal.
“This World Cup being on home soil adds to that pressure as well,” Priest said on SENZ Mornings.
“Watching the game (on Sunday) was hard for me, a lot of those girls are my close friends and I know how that feels to feel the pressure of a big tournament.
“I don’t think we can read too much into it, it seems like it was one of those days.
“They (the Aussies) obviously did pretty well with the ball. Ash Gardner wrestled momentum back at the end, and they (the White Ferns) sort of lost their way a little bit.”
So how do the White Ferns get themselves back firing?
It starts with returning to form against South Africa in Hamilton on Thursday, before two more must-win fixtures against England and Pakistan.
“I think the South Africa game will still be a challenge,” she added.
“New Zealand cannot take that game lightly.
“They’ve also just got to let go of what’s happened. This is tournament play and you’ve just got to let that game go now.
“Unfortunately they all had a bad day together. I’m sure they’ll already be talking about their plan and looking forward to that game against South Africa.
“But I think they do need to win all three to be sure of moving on to the next phase of this competition.”
Priest says there must be some onus placed on head coach Bob Carter and his coaching staff for the heavy loss to Australia and suggests the pressure will mount if the team fails to progress to the semi-finals.
“I think some of it has to go back on the coaching staff and how they got the players ready to approach this game,” Priest said.
“It’s sacrilege not to bat out your overs in a 50-over game because you never know what can happen.
“They’ve got to have some discussions about how they’re going about playing these games.
“Depending on what happens in this tournament, there might be some pressure on some of the coaching staff, for sure.”
The White Ferns currently occupy fourth position on the table with four points from four matches, with South Africa (third) on the same amount of points from their two outings and West Indies (fifth), also on four points, having one game in hand.
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