'I enjoy bowling a lot more than maths'
The baby of the New Zealand team, Amelia Kerr, talks about coming up in the game alongside illustrious team-mates
![Amelia Kerr bowls, Australia v New Zealand, Women's World Cup 2017, Bristol, July 2, 2017](https://img1.hscicdn.com/image/upload/f_auto,t_ds_w_1280,q_70/lsci/db/PICTURES/CMS/265200/265281.jpg)
"One day I was just mucking around, pretending I could bowl spin. Watching my action, Dad said it wasn't quite bad and actually looked quite natural. Since that day, I started practising" • Getty Images
He didn't coach me or anything, but it's cool to have that sort of knowledge in the family. It's been good fun having all my cousins play cricket and growing up with them playing in the backyard and then going away for cricket camps with family and friends. [Cricket] made our family gatherings so much more fun and social.
It's mainly the support I've got from them. They have encouraged me through my earliest days of training. They let my coaches coach me, but it's nice to have them as parents, to be able to talk to them about the game when I want. My dad has been helping me since I was young. Just when I first started training properly, Dad and I would go down to the nets, in Tawa, where we live. That's when he's coached me a little bit, although it was mostly about the tactical side of the game, not technical too much.
When I was younger, my sister was always really active, playing sport, and I was really interested. Me and one of my best friends, Kate, would watch all the siblings play. We decided to start from there, playing with my cousins and friends from school when I was about six. We all joined a team and played through together till about 12 or 13.
Not really, it kind of just happened. I always bowled pace till I was about ten - a scary fast bowler. And then one day I was bowling outside my house with my sister, my dad, and in the end I was just mucking around, pretending I could bowl spin. Watching my action, Dad said it wasn't quite bad and actually looked quite natural. Since that day, I started practising. I got into Ivan Tissera, my coach, who taught me to bowl legspin.
"My friends have no idea about cricket, really. But they are all proud of me"
Sophie [Devine] presented me with the T20 cap, because both of us come from Tawa, so maybe they decided to go with her. The ODI cap, I think it was Suzie [Bates]… umm, I'm pretty sure it was Suzie who handed me that one.
I have to say the one versus Australia, because that was one of the best I've bowled in my life. The fact that it was the Rose Bowl, and it was my first one against Australia, made it pretty special. Besides, to be able to bowl to those players and dismiss them [Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning, Elyse Villani and Alyssa Healy], you know, the players you grew up watching, was special.
The fact that I have variations is a big part, and being able to back them and then making batters to think more about what I'm going to bowl. I think that makes my legspin a lot better.
The media manager gave me the nickname AK-48 - that's basically my initials and my shirt number.
Nah, I don't think too much of it. It's more a bit of banter among the group.
When I was little, my favourite numbers were always 4 and 8. And then, once at a cricket camp, I had a raffle ticket with No. 48 on it and I won $50 (laughs). Then, on the same day, our team won and I got 48 not out. So it's just kind of meant to be.
Yeah, I've always admired the way Kane Williamson bats. I guess, also Sophie Devine, for the similar kind of upbringing we've had: both coming from Tawa, playing for Wellington Blaze, and both playing boys' cricket when we were young.
It's pretty cool. She's always been someone I've looked up to. Being able to play with her is special, and she's such a great leader both on and off the field. She gets along with the group and is very positive, encourages everybody. I like how she can do all this and then still perform at her best.
I'm definitely not the boss in the team. I'm a bit quiet and laid-back (giggles). As team-mates, we are all here to do the same thing. It's nice to have players like Suzie and Amy [Satterthwaite] in our team, to be able to learn off players with so much experience.
We do a lot of fielding in the New Zealand side's training and practices. Matthew Bell has developed my fielding a lot. Even when I was young, my uncle and my dad would always carry those tennis rackets and tennis balls on holiday outings. They would make me and my cousins play those catching and fielding games, in the manner of a competition. So it was both fun and competitive. I guess the fact that I can move kind of well on the field has got a bit to do with growing up that way.
"I don't remember the team winning [the Women's World Cup] in 2000. I would have been, maybe, only two months old? But yeah, I'm grateful to have been given this opportunity to be able to play here"
The first one was during the NZCT Secondary School Girls' final when I was 13. But I didn't know that nobody had scored a hundred there before me. It was a special occasion to play at the Basin at that age, and I was glad I could do it for my school, Tawa College. The second one came at 15. But Sophie [Devine] had also smashed a ton between the two I made. Batting is something I want to keep developing for the future at the international level.
Yeah, it definitely has, in a big way. It has been one of the biggest bonuses for me to develop my cricket. It's great being able to play tough cricket every weekend and I've been lucky that I've grown up playing with boys and my friends from school. So to be able to play with them even now is cool.
I was called up for a T20I in Australia after Leigh [Kasperek] got injured. Haidee [Tiffen] just called and asked me to be ready, pack my bags, because I was to fly to Australia that afternoon. I had just got dropped home from the boys' 1st XI Cup [game] that I was to play in school earlier that day. The match had got cancelled, so I was lucky I had my phone on me. Had it not been called off, I would have been out on the field and wouldn't have had my phone on me. I got back home as fast as I could and then my sister dropped me to the airport.
The dismissal was quite special. I was pretty glad to not have to bowl to her for longer, and that I got around her quickly. She was going pretty strong and I was glad to have broken the partnership and also do the job for my team.
I gave it my coach, Ivan Tissera, to thank him for everything he has done for me. Without him I would have probably not been where I am today.
My friends have no idea about cricket, really. But they are all proud of me. They support me, enjoy watching me play. At home they get all the games recorded, but they don't quite understand the game. In a way it's good to have that balance, so when you go home, you can relax, hang out with friends and not talk about cricket.
They are very supportive, especially my principal. They are good with giving me extensions to catch up with my work. And they are very proud of me.
It hasn't been too much of a problem so far, but I have a feeling when I get back from the World Cup, it's going to be pretty hectic for a few months.
I enjoy food and nutrition and psychology. I like English writing quite a lot.
Oh, not at all. I don't like maths at all. I enjoy bowling in cricket a lot more than maths. I dread maths.
Definitely want to carry on with cricket and see where it takes me. If I keep enjoying the game as much as I do now, I could be playing for a long time.
I enjoy hanging out with my friends, seeing my family. I love my family. I'm really fortunate that all my family is really close, all my cousins, we've grown up together. I'm probably at my aunty and uncle's house more than I'm at my own.
I've just got my restricted [licence] back home, which means I can drive. That is pretty cool. It's going to be a new experience.
Nope. I used to do football along with cricket, but I had to stop that.
I'd probably eat a lot of food. At the Dubai airport, there was a kids' room and it had a lot of games, like PlayStation. So maybe I would hang out in there, play the car games on the PlayStation.
I enjoyed Riverdale on Netflix and 13 Reasons Why.
When I'm with my friends, I can be the joker a little bit. When I'm with the team, I'm pretty laid-back.
They've just got to love it, love what they do, work hard and surround themselves with good people. I've been really lucky that I fell in love with the game of cricket and have been growing up in a supportive family and good coaches and friends.
Any opponent, any player would do. To be given a chance to play in the final and win it would be good enough, doesn't matter who it is against.
Annesha Ghosh is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo