Fielding emphasis paid high dividend for White Ferns

New Zealand women's cricket coach Mike Shrimpton maintained throughout the CLEAR White Ferns preparation for the CricInfo Women's World Cup that fielding was vital to the side's hopes.

As he contemplated New Zealand's thrilling four-run win over Australia in the final at BIL Oval he could reflect that his feelings were right.

"In the end it showed through. The fielding was the difference.

"Karen Rolton was the most dangerous of the Australians and her wicket was vital," he said.

Shrimpton said that New Zealand's 184 was probably 30 runs short.

In the 14th over New Zealand went from 65-1 to 65-3 and over the next five or six overs lost its momentum completely.

"We never had enough firepower," he said.

But back in the dressing room during the lunch break he said the players had to keep their poise and keep believing in themselves.

With Katrina Keenan getting the early breakthrough by removing Lisa Keightley, New Zealand gave itself a chance. Shrimpton said Keenan had bowled with exceptional economy throughout the tournament while also picking up wickets.

She found good support from Rachel Pullar at the right end of the tournament and the fielding ability of Helen Watson, who managed two key run outs, had been "quite exceptional."

There were still areas for New Zealand to improve when resuming normal contact with Australia in their annual competition. The New Zealanders still concede too many extras for his liking.

And with the retirement of Debbie Hockley and Catherine Campbell, and the prospective loss of Keenan and possibly, Clare Nicholson, Shrimpton has not too much time to reflect on the success at Lincoln.

"Because of the amateur nature of the game we are always going to have quite a large turnover in personnel," he said.

With that in mind, his next stop is to the national women's under-21 tournament to search out the players who might step up in the future.

Another important asset for the development of the women's game was the decision by Lincoln university to offer six cricket scholarships just for women.