NZ's Sophie Devine sets sights on World Cup double before retirement
Having last played for the White Ferns in December, in an ODI against Australia, the New Zealand veteran is set to return to the national side for the T20I series against Australia, which begins in Auckland on Friday.
Auckland [New Zealand], : New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine has her eyes set on the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025, a year after securing the T20 World Cup for her nation. She also admitted that during her recent time off from the game, retirement was on her mind.
Having last played for the White Ferns in December, in an ODI against Australia, the New Zealand veteran is set to return to the national side for the T20I series against Australia, which begins in Auckland on Friday.
Devine, now 35, led New Zealand to victory at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup last year, and admitted that during her time away from the game, the thought of retirement was not far from her mind.
"Completely honest? Yep ," Devine told reporters as quoted by ICC.
"Certainly. To be able to have to process through a few of those things. Obviously, I am unfortunately not getting any younger, so they naturally sort of came into mind."
"But for me, yeah, look, just really excited to be here, just going to be focusing on each day as it comes and just really enjoying every day with the White Ferns," she concluded her point.
The all-rounder acknowledged that the upcoming ODI World Cup, set to be held later this year in India, played a key role in her decision to prolong her career with the White Ferns. New Zealand last won the World Cup in 2000, and now has a rare opportunity to hold both the T20 and ODI world titles simultaneously.
"We have got a pretty big World Cup coming up later this year, which - all going well - hopefully I will be at," Devine added.
"Certainly the World Cup was probably the biggest one. I still felt like I have got a little bit more to give in the black shirt," she continued.
Devine has not played a competitive match since January 24, when she featured for Wellington in the Women's Super Smash. However, she emphasised that her time away had only reinforced her passion for the game, making her realise that the desire to don the White Ferns jersey was stronger than ever.
"So for me, I guess that opportunity was there, but also being okay with the fact that if I was done, I have had a pretty good run of it. But certainly watching the girls over the last couple of weeks, there is certainly a big itch there that is still to scratch," he concluded.
New Zealand and Australia are set to face off in a three-match T20I series, starting on March 21.
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