New Zealand grateful for Devine intervention as plans come together in crucial contest

Ten T20I defeats in a row couldn't sway resilient team from sticking to their guns in emphatic win

Sophie Devine had to scream her lungs out to get Maddy Green's attention at long-off. She was unhappy with Green's positioning and implored her to move a few yards to her right. The move was partly instinctive as much it was down to an understanding of Smriti Mandhana's strengths, having played with her in the Women's Premier League.

Four balls into Eden Carson's second over, the ploy was rewarded when Mandhana tempted fate and holed out to long-off. And just like that, Mandhana's plans of playing a shot she scores a lot of runs off, especially early on against spin, were nipped in the bud.

Devine revealed the plan for Mandhana was one among many that New Zealand put together for this World Cup opener, and while the results had been slow to come to fruition over the course of the previous year, what had remained was their steadfast belief in their methods.

Look, to be honest, we've been planning for this game for about, I don't know, probably close to a year," Devine said. "We've been really focused on this one game for a long time now, and the level of detail that we've gone into, in terms of match-ups, field settings, obviously it helps having played a little bit in the WPL.

"It's all well and good to have plans. If the bowlers can't execute it, it doesn't mean anything. But I thought the bowlers were outstanding. We were really clear around what plans we wanted to use and how we wanted to use them, and for them to execute and to pick up wickets regularly is something that I was really proud of. It's a pretty cool feeling to have plans executed, and to be rewarded for it." 

One of those plans that Devine touched upon, it seemed, was bowling a heavy ball. On a Dubai surface where the dew didn't come on as anticipated, the ball was gripping more than a hint. And Lea Tahuhu showed the value of hitting hard lengths. The wickets of Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh and Deepti Sharma were reward for that unwavering discipline.

Tahuhu's natural swing, courtesy of her slingy action, tends to take the ball away. While she isn't the tallest bowler in the game, she has worked previously with Jacob Oram, the former New Zealand allrounder turned bowling coach, on a slower bouncer to complement her hard lengths.