Was disappointing to lose captaincy, admits Amy Satterthwaite
London [UK], July 13 (ANI): New Zealand's Amy Satterthwaite has admitted that she was left disappointed after losing the captaincy of the women's team.
Satterthwaite had taken a break from cricket last year as she was preparing to have her first child with her wife and team-mate Lea Tahuhu.
In her absence, Sophie Devine was named the skipper and she led New Zealand at the T20 World Cup in Australia on a temporary basis earlier this year.
Now, Devine has been named as the permanent skipper of the White Ferns side.
"It was obviously disappointing not to retain the captaincy. I really enjoyed the opportunity to do it last year, it's always a real honour to lead your country. But I've got a different focus now in terms of getting back to being able to play cricket at the international level," ESPNCricinfo quoted Satterthwaite as saying.
"I'm really excited about the challenge that lies ahead. Looking forward as well to supporting Sophie, and I've always, I guess, been in and around the leadership group over the last few years, even when Suzie Bates was involved. So I think it doesn't change in terms of offering that leadership, in that sense," she added.
Satterthwaite had led the White Ferns in 19 international matches.
She has returned to training as both the women's and men's squads assembled for a four-day camp at New Zealand Cricket's High-Performance Centre in Lincoln for the first time since cricket came to a standstill in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic in March.
"It's nice to be back. Good to be back around the girls. The banter's always good fun. To get back to hitting balls, and feeling like I hadn't left to a certain extent, but it's always different to be back on grass too, it's a different challenge," Satterthwaite said.
New Zealand is slated to host the Women's 50-over World Cup next year and Satterthwaite said that there is nothing to play the tournament in front of home fans.
"Doesn't get much bigger than having a world cup at home, does it? We're really looking forward to that, and we've got a lot of hard work to do between now and then, and hopefully going ahead. But we're really excited about what that opportunity offers us as a group," Satterthwaite said. (ANI)
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