White Ferns want to 'push our game forward' on England tour - captain Sophie Devine

The White Ferns want to "push our game forward" on their tour of England, captain Sophie Devine says.

The side starts their ODI and T20 tour with a 50-over game in Durham Thursday morning.

In 2023, New Zealand failed to get out of their group in the T20 World Cup in South Africa, won a T20 series in Sri Lanka, lost an ODI series and drew a T20 series in South Africa before beating Pakistan in a home ODI series.

The White Ferns hosted England at the end of last summer, losing the ODI series 2-1 and the T20 series 4-1.

"We had winning opportunities (against England) and our goal now is to take hold of those winning opportunities and make sure we finish off games and win them," Devine said.

"We know when we're playing our best cricket, when we're sticking to our roles and executing what we need to, we can beat any team and that's certainly what we've come over here to do."

The White Ferns were in camp at Lincoln and Mt Maunganui for the six weeks before the tour and they had one warm-up game after arriving in England.

Devine said she knew improvement was expected of the team.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing us take that step forward and I think results are going to be important for us.

"We came close back home, but we're certainly here to win games and to learn and grow as a group."

Devine, Suzie Bates, Maddy Green, Amelia Kerr and a few others had been the backbone of the side for a long time, but a large number of young players had come into the squad in recent years, Devine said.

"We've thrown (the young players) in the deep end and tried to get them to learn on the job.

"They've done an incredible job when you consider how tough international cricket is and now I think we're starting to see the rewards from the work they've put in.

"So we're really wanting to push our game forward, we were a developing team but now we're wanting to see results because we know we have the talent in the squad."

She said the series was also important to the team as they prepared for the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in October.

"I think we're now getting into a position where there is real competition for spots and players are going to have to perform to earn that spot.

"That's a really exciting place to be, to have players fighting for those spots and having that added bit of pressure which adds a competitive edge to the group which is something we talk a lot about ... competing every ball and every game."

England have named a full strength squad and are coming off a series sweep of Pakistan.

White Ferns squad: Sophie Devine (captain), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Lauren Down, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Mikaela Greig, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Leigh Kasperek, Jess Kerr, Melie Kerr, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu.

Lea Tahuhu will remain in New Zealand for the birth of her second child and join the squad for the T20I series starting 6 July.

England ODI squad: Heather Knight (captain), Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones (wk), Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt.

White Ferns England tour schedule

• 1st ODI - Riverside, Durham - Wednesday 26 June - 12am +1 day (NZT)
• 2nd ODI - New Road, Worcester - Sunday 30 June - 10pm (NZT)
• 3rd ODI - County Ground, Bristol - Wednesday 3 July - 12am +1 day (NZT)
• 1st T20I - The Rose Bowl, Southampton - Saturday 6 July - 1.30am +1 day (NZT)
• 2nd T20I - The 1st Central County Ground, Hove - Tuesday 9 July - 5.30am +1 day (NZT)
• 3rd T20I - The Spitfire Ground, Canterbury - Thursday 11 July - 5.30am +1 day (NZT)
• 4th T20I - The Oval, London - Saturday 13 July - 5.30am +1 day (NZT)
• 5th T20I - Lord's, London - Wednesday 17 July - 5am +1 day (NZT)