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One of New Zealand’s top cricketers, Emily Drumm, says that leading the White Ferns to their only World Cup triumph 20 years ago was their Everest.
Let’s face it: there are only so many reruns of old sporting events that we were able to endure by shutting down live sports during the worst of the pandemic shutdown.
But for New Zealand’s most celebrated women’s cricket team, there was a replay that gave them real excitement and brought back a flood of memories.
In May, Sky Sport showed a full replay of the 2000 Women’s Cricket World Cup final in Christchurch.
The White Ferns, after being fired by Australia for a meager 184, threw and got out of their skin. When New Zealand bowler Clare Nicholson had Charmaine Mason caught by goalkeeper Rebecca Rolls with the first ball of the final, the White Ferns screamed and screamed in the middle of the ground. They had won by just four races.
“We have our own WhatsApp group,” says Emily Drumm, a member of that victorious White Ferns team, as she reflected on that day. “We all tuned in to watch and you can imagine the comments that spread everywhere.
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“We have a very good connection between the players, some of whom are abroad. The flashbacks are still there, but 20 years later your life gets in the way. But it was a brilliant day.”
Aucklander Drumm, “a tragic Blues tragic,” laughs, she was the captain of White Ferns that day, and with names like Devine, Bates, Kerr, Satterthwaite and Tahuhu, the most recognizable names in the current White Ferns game, it’s easy to forget which Drumm was an outstanding player.
He made his international debut at the age of 17. In 101 one-day international matches, he averaged 35.11, twice centuries ago. In five tests, rarely played now, Drumm averaged a monster 144.33, with two centuries against England and Australia (161 not his highest score in Christchurch).
Drumm’s time as captain had ups and downs. She admits that now she might not have been ready when asked to take office several months before the World Cup.
“In January 2000, the Australians beat us 3-0 and I remember sitting in the locker room and thinking ‘this is not good, I don’t know what I’m doing,'” she says.
“I was still relatively young from the point of view of maturity. I had played a lot of cricket, but being a captain is not just playing, it is being able to communicate, talk to the players and make the right decisions.”
In terms of the game of cricket, she felt she was ready, but was she mentally mature enough? “Probably not, but when they ask you to be the captain of your country, you don’t want to turn it down.”
She vividly remembers sitting in the locker room with Lesley Murdoch, who was then the president of selectors and international double, after the last game of that Australian series.
“I was pretty tearful. Lesley had asked me to be captain. She said ‘get up, you have a good team and we have a tournament at home.’
He did so, and successful winter preparation prepared the White Ferns for their ultimate triumph at Lincoln.
A couple of lean seasons followed, and the young players found their feet in the side. New Zealand Cricket carried out a review at the end of the 2002-03 season, and Drumm and Murdoch were discarded as captain and coach.
Drumm is not the type to regret, but admits it took him a while to get over that.
“I would have liked the opportunity to fix the problems in question. I never had the opportunity. That was the only disappointment for me.”
She was available to come back for the White Ferns, but they didn’t want her. At this distance it still seems strange.
She was lost for more than a year, but played again in early 2006 and appropriately finished on a stellar note against India at home, scoring 274 runs in five ODIs with a 91 average.
After that, no thanks, and he never actually retired. She wasn’t the type to make a lot of noise.
He went to Britain for an EO position and stayed for seven years, playing and training with Kent.
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Emily Drumm with her children Theo, Devan ages nine and ten.
Drumm maintains her ties to the game as a national team coach, has been a coach at the provincial level and still has ambitions to do more work in that area, perhaps even around the White Ferns or the women’s Big Bash League.
He has also been a television commentator for the game. But coaching can wait until you catch up with the demands and skill sets of the modern game. “I would hate to get into a role that I wasn’t ready for.
And most importantly, not until you fit in with life away from cricket. He has two children, Devan, 10, and Theo, nine.
“They take up a lot of my time. I work full time [as a manager for her older brother Dominic’s commercial cleaning company, Westferry Property Services], there’s cricket and children’s soccer, selecting and trying to run a household, “he says.
“I have tried to stay in the game without compromising being a mother. I live a pretty full and busy life.
“Training is something I’m really passionate about, but it’s about timing. Opportunities have come along, but I can’t take them. I need to put a little more skin in the game.”
His timing was also unfortunate in terms of work. He started working for his brother in February, just before Covid-19 hit. Superyacht cleaning is one of its threads. But he has only been aboard four since March.
Dean Kozanic / Stuff
Emily Drumm says that leading the White Ferns to their only World Cup win 20 years ago was their Everest.
So how has the game of cricket changed since Drumm was in its prime?
“Players are definitely hitting the ball harder now and further,” she says. “But I don’t think bowlers play much faster. Bats are better and give a bit more performance when you get one out of the way.
“Players are better athletes too. Could some players be fitter than they are? Of course, but you have to be fit, be athletic, and you can’t be weak in any part of the game.
“What has become more obvious is television coverage. Players have been exposed if they are poor in certain respects.”
Going back to December 23, 2000. What stands out in Drumm’s mind about that wonderful day at Lincoln?
“From being a kid growing up and falling in love with cricket, and having a disaster in the World Cup final at Lord’s in 1993 when we were beaten [by England] and i had a terrible game [out for a duck], to come back seven years later and lead the team in such a close match and win, it doesn’t get better than that.
“I have two children and I love them to pieces. But winning the World Cup was my Everest, my Olympic gold medal.”
