New Zealand women’s cricket team will miss its captain Sophie Devine for the white-ball series at home against Sri Lanka in March. Devine will continue to prioritise her mental well-being and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has respected the veteran all-rounder’s decision. Devine has been playing constantly since September last year with the Australia matches, followed by Women’s T20 World Cup, India series, Women’s Big Bash League followed by Australia ODIs and then the Super Smash.
Devine pulled out midway through the Super Smash and also from the Women’s Premier League where she was to feature for the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
“We are fully supportive of Sophie’s decision to not take part in the upcoming series,” said Liz Green, NZC’s Head of Women’s High Performance. Player well-being is our highest priority and it’s important Sophie feels fit and well before returning to professional cricket,” Green added.
The six white-ball matches featuring three ODIs, followed by as many T20Is will kick off on March 4 in Napier. The series will clash with the WPL and both New Zealand and Sri Lanka will have their key players Amelia Kerr and Chamari Athapaththu playing for their respective franchises in the tournament which ends on March 15.
New Zealand will be immediately involved in a three-match T20I series against Australia post that, which begins six days after the WPL ends. New Zealand will announce the squads for the Sri Lanka series later this month.
On the other hand, RCB called up Australian all-rounder Heather Graham as Devine’s replacement for the 2025 edition of the WPL. Graham was previously part of the Mumbai Indians squad in the WPL but didn’t play any games. Not just Devine’s withdrawal, RCB were hit by multiple injuries with Asha Sobhana, Sophie Molineux, Shreyanka Patil and Kate Cross all being ruled out of the WPL due to respective injuries.
illuminate the given topic, research related current news, and create an informative blog post that provides in-depth coverage of the subject
