Kerr will be leading New Zealand at a global tournament for the first time after being named Sophie Devine’s successor as captain in February this year. While the White Ferns are embracing their triumph from two years ago, it isn’t weighing heavy around their necks.

“I think it’s a really cool opportunity for us to come in having won the World Cup two years ago,” Kerr said at her pre-match press conference on Friday, “and rather than putting too much thought into it, I think what happened two years ago was two years ago, and we start again when we get to this World Cup.

“We’re not looking to defend anything. We want to be positive and go out and play a brand that we know we can play that is good enough to win World Cup, so if anything, it gives us belief that we know we can win a World Cup.”

New Zealand enter the 2026 tournament in much stronger form than in 2024, when they had a run of nine consecutive T20I losses before the start of the competition. This year, they have won eight out of 11 T20Is, plus both of their warm-up matches, against Bangladesh and South Africa. While Kerr was encouraged by her side’s recent form, she isn’t taking anything for granted.

“We’ve seen that whether you go into a World Cup with no wins under your belts or with lots of wins like Australia had a couple of years ago, it doesn’t matter, you’ve just got to turn up for each and every game. For us that’s tomorrow against the West Indies, and we both start on zero, and you’ve got to turn up and trust your skills.”

“I’m in a privileged position where I feel like I’ve been around long enough to connect with the senior players,” Kerr said, “but also young enough to build good relationships with our younger group, and I’ve just really enjoyed it.

“I think I see the talent in the group and the work ethic, and it makes it pretty easy to want to lead a group like that, where you think their ceiling is so high, and you can inspire this group to achieve, hopefully greatness, and that’s what I love about it.”

“I think it’s been a bit of, not a shock, but a bit different, having a lot of the young ones coming in,” Matthews said, “and I guess it’s a generation now that look up to me as a bit of a role model. For me it’s about trying to be the best inspiration that I can be, but also setting a really big example from the top.”

Matthews has also been encouraged by her younger team-mates’ energy and willingness to learn, acknowledging the challenge of stepping up from regional cricket in the Caribbean.

“They certainly bring a lot of energy, for sure,” Matthews said, “but I think what’s really important about the young girls that we do have in the group, they’re really keen and interested in learning and getting better, and they’re open to listening, and just wanting to improve, and I feel like that’s all you can ask for from players like them.

“I certainly feel like when a lot of our younger players come to international cricket, because of our system, they probably come very underprepared, as a lot of us did, and have a hard job of learning on the job in a sense.”

West Indies come into the tournament in patchy form. In 2026, they have two wins, six defeats and two no-results in T20Is. Both of their official warm-up fixtures, against India and Australia, ended in defeat, but Matthews is looking on the bright side of those results.

“I think the game that I watched us play against India, they got 180 [179], we got 150 [153] and I think with myself and Stafanie’s scores that could be the difference in a match like that, so for sure it’s still a lot of positives to take out of it.”

Matthews also strongly believes that tournament cricket, can bring out of her side, with the 2016 triumph evidence of that.

“I think history probably shows it quite a bit for West Indies men’s and women’s teams,” Matthews said, “we tend to show up to the occasion.

“I guess when the energy is around and the vibes are up, and all the noises around, is when we tend to show up a bit more. I feel like that’s probably a good thing rather than playing really good bilateral T20 cricket all around the year, and then not being able to show up at big tournaments.

“Hopefully this is a year where we can go there and show up once more when it really matters.”

“I haven’t thoroughly thought about it too much,” Kerr said of her 100th match in T20Is, “it’s just exciting that it’s our World Cup opener, and it’s a massive game against the West Indies, where you know the last World Cup we came up against them in the semi-final, and every game this World Cup is going to be massive.

“I’ve probably just thought more about that opening game, really wanting to get the win, but knowing that if you think too much about that, you sometimes don’t play your best cricket.”

Asked whether avenging that semi-final defeat was extra motivation for West Indies, Matthews said: “I don’t feel like it’s necessarily revenge. We probably didn’t have our best match that day, and it was unfortunate how we went down.

“I think it is really good that we have them first at this competition, and I think it’s going to be a crucial match-up when we look at the groups. Look, it’s a World Cup, so every game you’re going to have to be switched on, but this is certainly one where if we do get the better of them tomorrow, it puts us in a really good position going into the remainder of the games.”

The growth of women’s cricket has come a long way since 2016, when West Indies became world champions, and a 16-year-old Melie Kerr made her international debut.

“I think back to my 16-year-old self who debuted against, I think, Pakistan on a live stream,” Kerr said, “to now doing a press conference and going and playing on the world stage with cameras all around, and media, and the opportunities over those years that cricket’s provided me and how much the game’s grown globally and in New Zealand.”

For Matthews, the pride of that 2016 triumph still burns strong within her, and she yearns for that feeling and the boost it could give West Indies cricket again.

“I think cricket was certainly a lot different back then,” Matthews said, “I guess just the pride that we felt representing the West Indies badge that year, when we did win the tournament, and the way that it brought the West Indies together, is certainly something that we’d love to do again as a team.

“We know it would mean so much to the Caribbean people if we could win a competition like that in this day and year and age.”