The New Zealand quick chats about what inspired her to take up fast bowling, the tools of her trade, and its pitfalls
Sruthi Ravindranath22-Oct-2025Rosemary Mair always wanted to bowl fast. Watching Shane Bond tear through batting line-ups on TV as a kid, she was hooked by his raw pace and built her action in his image – high-arm, strong follow-through, with a fierce desire to attack the stumps.The inswinger became Mair’s signature. It’s been her go-to since the moment she decided fast bowling was her calling, and it’s served her well in clutch situations.In New Zealand’s 2024 T20 World Cup opener against India, Mair swung one in from outside off to trap Harmanpreet Kaur in front, one of four wickets that night. At this ODI World Cup, she opened her tournament tally by knocking off Bangladesh opener Sharmin Akter’s bails with one that nipped back in.Related
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“So when I’m bowling my best, I’m bowling fast and attacking the stumps, and then any movement off the wicket is a bonus,” Mair tells ESPNcricinfo.”The nipbacker off the seam is definitely my stock ball, but I’ve also been working on a bit of an outswinger to try and beat both sides of the bat, so yeah, obviously the inswinger is my danger ball, but it’s just [about] keeping the batters guessing as well. For myself, it’s always just how many times can I hit the top of the stumps and be really boring.”Mair has a clever change of pace too. It came in handy in the 2024 T20 World Cup final, as she removed the dangerous Nadine de Klerk with a slower ball wide outside off en route to figures of 3 for 25 and a title win.”The slower balls are more about when I bowl them rather than the actual skill [itself],” she says. “I think so far in this tournament, we haven’t had a lot of the death phase, so haven’t had to bowl too many slower balls. But it’s definitely in my armoury if needed.”Another set of stumps is rearranged by Mair’s trademark nip-backer•ICC/Getty ImagesLike many New Zealand players, Mair’s sporting life began with football and squash. Cricket came into the mix when she was seven, courtesy of three older brothers. She started out at Taradale Cricket Club, playing in boys’ teams until she was 13.”The boys started growing a bit faster… and the bowlers got a bit too quick,” she says. “When I kind of got to high school, it was when I started to focus on my cricket a lot. Having three older brothers, I just kind of went to the cricket nets and grew up playing boys cricket and then, it was just a natural progression in my family.”I think growing up playing with the boys, it made me competitive. I guess I had to better my game to be able to stay and keep up with the boys.”That competitive edge fast-tracked her rise. After debuting for Central Districts in 2014-15 and impressing over the years with her consistency, she earned her New Zealand call-up in 2019 following an impressive tour-game performance against India. A T20 World Cup debut came in 2020.But her career since has been stop-start, plagued by injuries. A shin injury ruled her out of a key England tour in 2021. She missed the 2023 T20 World Cup but forced her way back with strong Women’s Super Smash performances. Then came a back injury in early 2024 but she made it back just in time for the T20 World Cup that year. A side strain at the start of this World Cup kept her out of crucial matches against Australia and South Africa.But Mair knows that injuries come with the territory for a fast bowler. “I think for me especially, I’m not gifted physically with height or a fast bowler’s build, so it’s just keeping on top of things in the gym and especially when it’s so hot here, things like recovery and hydration.”Our head coach Ben Sawyer is also the fast-bowling coach, so during a tournament like this, it’s not [about] big technical changes [to keep injury away], it’s just maintaining your key points and making sure your technique is repeatable and not prone to injury.”Mair on Lea Tahuhu: ‘I think she really understands the players, she understands the pressure, so I’ve really been leaning on her this World Cup’•ICC/Getty ImagesThe best thing about New Zealand’s pace unit, for Mair, is the variety within it. And she leans heavily on one experienced head.”Lea Tahuhu has been a real idol for me,” Mair says. “She’s obviously played at a lot of World Cups and she’s one of the leading wicket-takers of all time in World Cups, so I think she really understands the players, she understands the pressure, so I’ve really been leaning on her this World Cup. But as a pace unit, we’ve learned a lot from each other during this World Cup.”Beyond India, and this ODI World Cup, Mair has her sights set on the next T20 World Cup in England in 2026, particularly because she believes the conditions will help her kind of bowling.”The last few World Cups have been in the subcontinent, so a bit of a different game plan for the seniors, but I’m really looking forward to England, the T20 World Cup next year. I think it’ll be a really high-scoring, powerful, fast kind of game, so I think as a fast bowler, I’m really excited to have a bit more pace and bounce.”Mair has also picked up new ideas from time spent in the WBBL, and from overseas players she’s shared dressing rooms with. “In New Zealand, you often work with the same coaches for a long time. So getting different perspectives on field settings or game plans has been a real eye-opener.”Back home, she’s seen the domestic game grow rapidly. “When I started at 15, the standard wasn’t great. But over the last ten years, especially the last three or four, the investment from New Zealand Cricket has been amazing. Playing on TV now, for young girls to see that, it’s just huge.”While her current focus in on her growth in the two white-ball formats, she hopes to play Test cricket someday; New Zealand haven’t played that format since 2004.”I’m a bit of a nuffy,” Mair says. “I love Test cricket. It would be amazing to play one day.”