Amy Satterthwaite becomes Adelaide Strikers' assistant coach
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New Zealand Women announce 15-member squad for Commonwealth Games
'I was upset, I was mad' - Frankie Mackay opens up on the shocking axing of Amy Satterthwaite
White Ferns' off-spinner Frankie Mackay has slammed New Zealand Cricket for axing former skipper and veteran middle-order batter Amy Satterthwaite from the central contract list.
Lea Tahuhu among other veterans axed from New Zealand Annual Contract List
Days after Amy Satterthwaite announced her retirement from international cricket after being dropped from the annual contract, it is noted that other veterans have also missed out on the contract, including her wife, Lea Tahuhu. The New Zealand women's team hosted the 2022 World Cup and had a disastrous campaign as they failed to qualify past the group stages. The results called for transition in the team, which can be seen now in the form of central contracts the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) is offering them. A list of 17 players who are a part of the annual contract for the next 12 months was released, and experienced players such as Amy Satterthwaite, Lea Tahuhu, Frankie Mackay, Leigh Kasperek, and Thamsyn Newton were the ones who were omitted from the contract. Six young talents were handed their maiden contract in place of these expiring contracts. These players are Fran Jonas, Molly Penfold, Izzy Gaze, Nensi Patel, Eden Carson, and George Plimmer. Speaking about the significant changes on the side, White Ferns’ General Manager Bryan Stronach said that the team is looking for the future, and hence the contracts are given accordingly. They are looking for players that are most likely to represent them this upcoming year. He further added, "They have given their all; have made great sacrifices, and retain our absolute respect. It's also important to emphasize that, just because someone hasn't received a national contract offer, it doesn't mean they cannot, or will not, be selected." "This is about having on contract the players we're most likely to use during the next 12-month period,” Stronach added. Tahihu's absence has come as a shock for some fans as she was the highest wicket-taker for New Zealand in this World Cup. Reacting to it, Stronach said, "It's never easy coming up with a final 17 players. We're excited about the six new faces receiving contract offers, several of whom already have some White Ferns experience under their belt." "To be in a position in which we're genuinely considering the credentials of a wider pool of players can only be viewed as a positive for the women's game," Stronach quoted according to Black Caps' official website. The list of players included in the annual contract is as follows: Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Sophie Devine, Lauren Down, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Hayley Jensen, Fran Jonas, Jess Kerr, Amelia Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Jess McFadyen, Nensi Patel, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe
Amy Satterthwaite retires from international cricket
She took a break from international cricket in 2019 for the birth of her first child before returning to action in the following year.
ICC Women's CWC 2022 | Amy Satterthwaite single outs reason for her side's poor run
Amy Satterthwaite has said that although the bowlers have put up a fight in every game, the batting unit has let the team down.
Three surgeries and eight weeks of rehab: How White Ferns' Lea Tahuhu got through cancer scare
Lea Tahuhu is a New Zealand women's cricketer and a White Ferns' hero who recently registered her maiden five-for, her best figures in international cricket, to keep the Kiwis alive in a five-match ODI series against England. With 0-2 down in the series, Tahuhu produced a phenomenal opening spell of bowling picking up 4 wickets under the first 10 overs. And to think that she was almost ruled out of the White Ferns cricket tour of England. So much so that, she might even have been fighting cancer, if not for prompt action by her, her family members and doctors. The tall fast bowler had also symptoms of skin cancer, which developed through a mole on her foot. “It got me to some low places. It was such a shock, all of it,” Tahuhu was quoted as saying in the newsroom.co It didn’t really bother Tahuhu for 18 months until it changed colour and started getting bigger. After constant harping by her wife and New Zealand women vice-captain Amy Satterwaithe and her mom, Tahuhu finally got the mole removed, but that’s when the real struggle began. “I had the mole taken off, and all went well at that point. There’s not a lot of skin on the top of your foot that you can actually pull together, so it was left a bit open,” Tahuhu reasoned after being diagnosed with an infection on her wounds while practising during a White Ferns camp “I was seeing a plastic surgeon at 8.30 in the morning, and by 2 pm I was in for general surgery to remove all the dead bits,” she explained. So suddenly, the process which was to be over with the removal of the mole now stretched to another 15 days. And just as she thought that now it was over, the White Ferns player was to receive a shock of her life. “I went in to have a local anaesthetic for a small graft. We were sitting in the waiting room and the doctor said to Amy and me to come down and have a chat. It was 8.25 am and I was supposed to be getting it done at 8.30, but he wasn’t in his scrubs. I should have put two and two together then,” said the 30-year-old. “He said ‘We won’t be doing the graft this morning because we’ve had some preliminary results back from your mole and it doesn’t look positive’,” Tahuhu added. Not to say she was devastated, but almost everything was about to change for the New Zealand international who has played 73 ODIs and 53 T20Is for the White Ferns in her 10-year long international career. “That morning then changed drastically, because it’s not often you get words such as ‘melanoma’ and ‘skin cancer’ thrown at you, that you certainly weren’t expecting. I sat there like a stunned mullet. “What was supposed to be one local surgery and two weeks recovery, ended up being three surgeries and eight weeks later,” she said. However, another round of tests confirmed that she had a close shave as the mole was almost entering the cancerous stage when she arrived at the doctors and thus cancerous cells hadn’t really developed. “Anytime someone throws the word ‘melanoma’ at you it gets pretty scary, pretty real, very fast. I’m very lucky that’s not what it ended up being, but there were a scary few days there. It was tough,” she said. However, on one hand, there was something to relax about, but on the other, the fast bowler was worried about missing the plane to England. “There were a few days where I thought ‘How am I going to put ten times my body weight through my foot when I bowl? When at the moment I’ve just got a hole on the side of it,’” said Tahuhu who has taken a total of 129 international wickets. “But then I thought ‘No, I’m determined to get on that plane’, and I’m pretty diligent with what I have to get done to reach goals,” she added. And she indeed made it to the plane and has now even won a game for her team in a crunch situation. Tahuhu went on to thank her family and friends for taking care of her and her daughter Grace when her wife Satterwaithe was out training with the national team. She also thanked New Zealand Cricket for being with her through all this. “We’re so lucky to have family support around us so Amy could still go off to train while parents and siblings came round to look after both Grace and me for a change. New Zealand Cricket have been amazing, they took over the full rehab and worked with the doctors in Christchurch really closely so I could get on the plane,” Tahuhu said, but not before advising people not to take their health for granted. “I certainly won’t be taking any skin checks or mole maps for granted anymore. I’ll be one of the people who’s getting one every year on the date it’s needed,” she said.