Sports people can be weird superstitious animals.

Michael Jordan wore his old college shorts under his NBA uniform. Definitely worked for him. Serena Williams will wear the same socks for a whole tournament. Worked for her.

All Black Sam Whitelock wears the same style of black and white undies every match. And White Fern Samantha Curtis, who just happens to be a senior solicitor with a private client and trust team at Cooney Lees Morgan, is also prone to superstition. She'll probably sleep with her bat tonight.

'I have done that on a few occasions before a big match and it has worked,” says the right-handed batsmen and wrist spinner. 'It's produced big runs for me and I don't know why I don't it more often.”

She can laugh. But she fires up talking about the White Ferns who are on fire at the moment.

'We have been talking about having that fight, that determination, that will to win,” says Curtis. 'Previously that belief hasn't quite been there. But now it certainly is and it's great.”

That belief enabled the White Ferns to smash the world number one ranked Australians in the T20 series across the Tasman recently. 'Who doesn't like to see Australia struggling, an Aussie down.” But they also know that a wounded and cornered Aussie is a dangerous animal.

'They have got fight and depth. There will be personnel changes, and they will come back hard.” But, she says, they are beatable. 'We have already proven that.”

And as this edition of The Weekend Sun was going to bed, they were one up in the ODIs here in New Zealand and about to stat back-to-back matches at the Bay Oval.

'And everyone's working to give ourselves the very best chance of being in that final of the World Cup in England June and July.”

People are talking and they're talking because the White Ferns have been up on the television and winning. Channel 9 broadcast the Australian matches live.

'They are kind of pioneers in giving the girls all the chances the guys get,” says Samantha. And last Sunday's run a ball nail biter in Auckland was also televised. 'It's amazing what it does for the development and promotion of the game.

'People have been stopping us and say we watched you on television. That's great because previously we wouldn't have been recognised at all.”

On Sunday, the White Ferns will be playing the Southern Stars at the Bay Oval, a ground that was packed with 12,000 people earlier this year to watch the blokes, the Black Caps play Bangladesh.

It's probably unfair to make comparison because as Samantha points out, women's cricket is a spectacle in its own right.

'We are both the best the country has to offer. And while they may hit a few more sixes and fours that doesn't make the women's games any less exciting.” The Eden Park game was case and point – it was a cracker.

'We managed to showcase some of the excitement. We love to win and we love to beat Australia.”

So it's not a fair comparison but one she is happy to discuss.

'I believe we should be using the men's game to build our own. When the Black Caps are playing we would love to play the curtain-raiser.”

And the local girl cold be forgiven for having misgivings about paying at Bay Oval.

She's had one outing for the White Ferns there. 'The scene was set. My family and friends were all down from Auckland for the occasion. I face my first ball and gap it nicely into covers and called Suzie Bates through.

'She got two thirds of the way down the track and sent me back. She faced just one ball.

'I say Suzie running me out, probably me running myself out.” And bates is forgiven. 'Hard to stay angry with the captain.”