Sophie Devine Named Captain For New Zealand Women's Team

All-rounder Sophie Devine was on Thursday named as the permanent captain of New Zealand. Devine replaces Amy Satterthwaite to take up the reigns after the latter decided to go for maternity leave in 2019. Satterthwaite, meanwhile, will take up the role of vice-captain once she returns from the leave.

Last season Devine took over as interim captain with her permanent role set to get underway now. It was due to her strong leadership skills that Devine has been named as he full-time captain of the side.

“It’s a huge honour and privilege to be awarded the WHITE FERNS captaincy,” said Devine.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time as captain over the past season. It was challenging results-wise at times, but I feel we are moving in the right direction as a team, both with our cricket and our team culture.

“I’m very much looking forward to working with Amy who has an exceptional cricketing brain and I feel we can form a strong leadership partnership in combination with a well-established leadership group.”

Meanwhile, the White Ferns head coach Bob Carter is impressed with the way Devine has guided the team over the last season and believes in the ability. “Sophie is a strong leader, she has her own style and knows what she wants from herself and the team,” Carter said.

According to the official media release, the process undertaken by NZC acknowledged from the outset that Satterthwaite, having taken maternity leave, remained the incumbent captain.

Devine has represented New Zealand in 105 ODIs and 91 T20Is. She has scored at an average nearly 32 in both the formats and picked up 71 wickets in the 50-over format, 87 in the shortest.