Priest back among contracted NZ women cricketers

WELLINGTON: Experienced keeper-batter Rachel Priest is back among the list of contracted New Zealand Women cricketers for the 2019-20 season.

Priest, 34, last represented the White Ferns at the 2017 World Cup in England and was left out thereafter with then coach Haidee Tiffen citing the player’s poor fitness as reason for the axing.

A veteran of 154 international appearances, Priest has forged her way back into the national team reckoning with her impressive show in this year’s Women’s Super League T20 in England, finishing fourth in the tournament’s run charts with 365 runs at a strike-rate of 145 as her team, Western Storm, clinched the title.

Priest has been joined in the contract list by off-spinner Anna Peterson, also omitted last year, while seamer Rosemary Mair and batter Lauren Down are first-time recipients of the national contract. Down and Mair both toured Australia with the White Ferns earlier this year.

Contracted Players for 2019-20: Suzie Bates, Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Sophie Devine, Lauren Down, Maddy Green, Holly Huddleston, Hayley Jensen, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Katey Martin, Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Rachel Priest, Hannah Rowe, Amy

Satterthwaite, Lea Tahuhu.