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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from Newstalk ZEDB.

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Speaker 2: The Northern Brave women have claimed their first national cricket

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Speaker 2: title in any format.

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Speaker 3: That's where I want to point the responsibilities, big appeal,

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Speaker 3: big appeals.

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Speaker 2: The Samari.

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Speaker 3: Yes, that's it, the Brave, They've finally done it. L

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Speaker 3: we W McKenzie has gone and that is the end

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Speaker 3: of the Blaze for one hundred and fifteen and the

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Speaker 3: Northern Brave first time winners. What a moment for.

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Speaker 2: Them, Yeah, what a moment indeed, the Brave beating the

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Speaker 2: Wellington Blaze by sixty seven runs yesterday to lift the

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Speaker 2: Halliburton Johnston Shield. A valiant bottom order stand or a

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Speaker 2: rearguard action you might call it, got the Brave through

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Speaker 2: to one eighty two and then their accurate bowling kept

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Speaker 2: the dangerous Wellington batting lineup and check, eventually bowling them

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Speaker 2: out for one hundred and fifteen. Batting at number nine,

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Speaker 2: Manim A Down's scored very important twenty five runs and

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Speaker 2: then took three for twenty six, including the wickets of

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Speaker 2: both of the Curse sisters Mealy and Jess. One of

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Speaker 2: my Downs, as will this how about the celebrations last.

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Speaker 4: Night big to be completely honest, Yeah, we were absolutely

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Speaker 4: stoked to get over the line. Obviously, Wellington a very

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Speaker 4: strong tide with some pretty big impact players, so yeah,

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Speaker 4: a very big celebration and yeah, just happy to get

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Speaker 4: over the line.

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Speaker 2: Wonderful. Well, before we talk about the game itself. Across

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Speaker 2: the regular season, you were the standout team, you dropped

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Speaker 2: only one match, you finished ten points ahead of everybody

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Speaker 2: else to qualify into the final. Did it feel like

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Speaker 2: this would be the summer that you won the comp.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so. I think there was a bit

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Speaker 4: of feeling about through the competition. We've worked really hard

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Speaker 4: as a group over the last few seasons. Our team's

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Speaker 4: really young, so I think we've come a long way

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Speaker 4: and that and I think, yeah, one standout thing for

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Speaker 4: our tea is how close we are on and off

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Speaker 4: the field, which I think helps with our performances. And yeah,

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Speaker 4: it's just really cool to get I guess, to put

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Speaker 4: it all together and finally win the championship.

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Speaker 2: With regards to the on field staff, what did the

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Speaker 2: team do particularly well to be so incredibly consistent in

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Speaker 2: a format? I mean, all the white ball formats are

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Speaker 2: which can be changeable. What was behind your excellent consistency

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Speaker 2: across the round robin.

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Speaker 4: I think just having really clear and simple plans. We've

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Speaker 4: got a coach that really backs us, and yeah, it

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Speaker 4: just just allows us to go out there and play

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Speaker 4: with freedom. So yeah, I mean there's not we're not

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Speaker 4: really you know, coven to nerves and scared about the

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Speaker 4: opposition that we play. We go out there with confidence

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Speaker 4: and we like to keep it as simple as possible

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Speaker 4: and that just seems to work for us.

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Speaker 2: And when it came to your bowling across the team,

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Speaker 2: you had five bowlers who were in double figured double

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Speaker 2: figures in terms of wickets. So how key was it

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Speaker 2: to be able to share the wicket taking load around

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Speaker 2: across the season.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I think that's a really key part of our team

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Speaker 4: is that everybody steps up at different moments. It's not

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Speaker 4: always the same one or two people, you know, winning

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Speaker 4: us game. So I think that's that's a really cool

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Speaker 4: thing that we've got in our squad. Everyone's contributing to

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Speaker 4: our wins. So yeah, that's a huge one for us

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Speaker 4: as a as a group.

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Speaker 2: All Right, so you're batting first yesterday, but you're ninety

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Speaker 2: four for seven when you walk out there, What was

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Speaker 2: the mindset at that point?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, IM in a bit of nerves around for sure.

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Speaker 4: Obviously we would have liked our top order to have

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Speaker 4: gone on a little bit longer, but obviously cricket works

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Speaker 4: in that way sometimes, so I guess just going out

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Speaker 4: in that moment, I knew that we had to take

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Speaker 4: it as deep as possible. We knew that batting the

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Speaker 4: whole the overs or as close to as possible was

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Speaker 4: going to give us the best chance at scoring a

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Speaker 4: few more runs. So yeah, I'm just glad that I

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Speaker 4: was there to contribute. And I think hollytops I was

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Speaker 4: out there with at the moment. She was super calm

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Speaker 4: and collected out there, so it made it easy for me.

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Speaker 2: So you got through to one eight to two in

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Speaker 2: the innings break, did you feel as though you were

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Speaker 2: a good chance to defend that?

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Speaker 1: Yes?

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Speaker 3: And no.

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Speaker 4: We obviously knew that they had some pretty big stars

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Speaker 4: in their lineup, obviously, both Curse Sisters and Georgia Plummer

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Speaker 4: and the White Firm set up, and you know those

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Speaker 4: have been three very consistent performance to Wellington, So yeah,

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Speaker 4: we knew that we had to take those three wickets

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Speaker 4: really early on if we wanted to have a shot,

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Speaker 4: and yeah, that we did and it all worked out

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Speaker 4: in our favor.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and you got as I mentioned at the top,

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Speaker 2: the wickets of both cursed sisters. How big a wicket

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Speaker 2: was Mealy Kurz in particular for you?

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Speaker 3: Oh?

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Speaker 4: Huge, Like obviously she's probably one of, if not the

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Speaker 4: best player in the world at the moment. So yeah,

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Speaker 4: I'm just super stoked to have been able to contribute

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Speaker 4: to my teams when and yeah, and that wicket was

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Speaker 4: super important for us. I know, that's a pretty game

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Speaker 4: changing wicket to take, So yeah, I'm just sloped with that.

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Speaker 2: Was there a point during Wellington's innings when you knew

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Speaker 2: you had the game won?

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Speaker 4: Yeah? I think after we take those first few wickets

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Speaker 4: up front. Obviously the wickets have as I said, Georgia

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Speaker 4: and mere Lee Jess and even you know, Rebecca Burns

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Speaker 4: has been a constant performer for them. So I guess

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Speaker 4: after we had those first few wickets down, Yeah, I

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Speaker 4: thought we were in with a pretty good chance from

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Speaker 4: that point, all right.

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Speaker 2: Well you got the job done. And of course, during

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Speaker 2: the week, two of your teammates, Nancy Patel and Kaylee

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Speaker 2: Knight were named in the White Fern squad for the

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Speaker 2: first time. They'll face Simbabwe in the upcoming series. Have

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Speaker 2: you been able to celebrate that with them in the

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Speaker 2: team environment as well?

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Speaker 4: Yeah. Absolutely, Our whole squad is incredibly proud and to

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Speaker 4: not wait to watch him Tillett. Obviously, Nancy has been

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Speaker 4: a constant performer for us for a long time and

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Speaker 4: Kaylee has grown incredibly over the last couple of months.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, we just absolutely soaked for them and yeah,

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Speaker 4: I can't wait to watch them do it on the

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Speaker 4: big stage.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, congratulations to you and the rest of the

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Speaker 2: Northern Brave, Madama, a history breaking win at the Basemin

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Speaker 2: Reserve yesterday for you and the team. Thanks for chatting

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Speaker 2: to us about it this.

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Speaker 4: Afternoon, no worries, thanks for having me.

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Speaker 2: Good on you, madam. Thanks indeed, mardim My Down's there

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Speaker 2: a big part of the Northern Brave effort yesterday as

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Speaker 2: they won the Hallibird and Johnston Shield. That's how Domestic

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Speaker 2: women's fifty over competition for the very first time, beating

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Speaker 2: the Wellington Blaze in the final.

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Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live

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Speaker 1: to news talk zed B weekends from midday, or follow

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