Amelia Kerr, the special talent who keeps on giving

How much talent is enough talent?

Amelia Kerr started her international career primarily as a bowler who could bat. That was partly because getting a spot as a specialist batter in the New Zealand side was tough with the likes of Suzie Bates, Rachel Priest, Amy Satterthwaite, Sophie Devine and Co around. But over the years, she has carved a place in that line-up and is now a regular No. 3. Then, she went a step further.

This season Kerr captained Wellington Blaze for the entire season for the first time and led them to their second Super Smash title in three years, all while batting at No. 3. She finished the competition as the leading run-scorer (437 runs) as well as the leading wicket-taker (20 wickets) and thus, came into the WPL 2024 in excellent form. It was a season that culminated in Kerr winning the Debbie Hockley Medal for the Cricketer of the Year at the New Zealand Cricket Awards for the second time in a row, apart from sweeping the ODI, T20I and the Super Smash player of the year awards too.

When she was crowned the Player of the Match in Mumbai Indians' successful chase against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru, it was Kerr's eighth such award in ten T20 matches. She has been a consistent presence in the middle order for Mumbai, so much so that she was their leading run-scorer until Harmanpreet Kaur's unbeaten 95-run blitz against Gujarat Giants. What has stood out is her remarkable composure and her ability to be unfazed by pressure.

"Amelia would love to bat higher in that competition [the WPL]. She is a bit of a victim of her own talent," Lance Dry, Wellington Blaze head coach, says. "She can still generate a good strike rate at No. 5 and is scoring at 136 [133] at present, which is really good in the women's game.

"If you can come in and still maintain that momentum with the field spread, and she does it in quite a low risk way. She has a good understanding of her scoring abilities and can score 360 degrees and can score all around the field, which makes it harder to bowl to her. She is now developing a good understanding of her strengths and knows how to expose them."

Against RCB, Kerr batted at No. 4 with Harmanpreet missing, and walked in in the 132-run chase in the eighth over. She finished 40 not out off just 24 balls to take Mumbai home. Then against UP Warriorz in Delhi, her 23-ball 39 - where she picked the gaps well to find boundaries - was instrumental in Mumbai getting to 160. Even in the opening match of the season, she kept Mumbai on par with the asking rate in a tricky chase. Having batted in tense situations in a low-scoring Super Smash season only helped Kerr.

"For us, she took responsibility and would see the game through to the end in terms of her batting. We probably chased 60% of our games - and of those, the ones we won she was not out in all of them. Which talks of her ability to pace the chase well but also to understand her responsibility as our best batter. She embraces that responsibility [rather] than shying away from it."

Ivan Tissera, Kerr's childhood coach, concurs. Kerr always wanted to be a batter but Tissera, who has worked with her since she was 11, made her understand the importance of having a second facet because it was "difficult [to break through] if someone wants to bat [in the top-order] - the White Ferns [New Zealand Women] were top-heavy at that time". Kerr then made her debut as a bowling allrounder before moving up the order.

"She knows her strengths - I am not saying she can't clear the boundary. She is not a six-hitting batter but knows when to hit," Tissera says. "She can keep up the tempo and has got the ability to work the ball in any area. She can hit 360 - that's her main strength. She is smart and can read what the bowler is going to do. That keeps her ahead of the game all the time."

Kerr's leadership skills also came in for a lot of praise from Dry.

"Her biggest impact in the Super Smash was through her captaincy. She really showed all the qualities we know she has. It was her first full season in terms of captaining at the T20 level. She enhanced her brand in that she's got another string to her bow. She is very easy to talk cricket with; she has a very good understanding of cricket. We were a spin-heavy side, which takes a bit of juggling and understanding on how to use 12-16 overs of spin."

Kerr suffered from burnout from the relentless schedule after the Covid-19-enforced break, and took a mental-health break in 2021. Tissera feels that came at the right time and taught her that "you cannot do it all. Rest is really important and that you might have to skip certain leagues. She played 18 months without a break and that got to her. But she came out of that really well."

For the second straight WPL, Mumbai face the challenge of an Eliminator. The venue in Delhi has increasingly started to aid spin, and Kerr - who has seven wickets so far - will be key for the defending champions. They will be hoping to see her talent - as spinner, batter, leader - shine through the pressure once again.