New Zealand's Generation Next hasn't officially begun, but they find themselves in a sweet spot between history and the future with a T20 World Cup defence on the horizon.
It's against this backdrop that they begin a new phase of their preparations, with a three-match ODI series starting against tournament hosts England in Durham on Sunday, with more new players than old in the squad.
Melie Kerr, their captain, leads a group of White Ferns bridging that gap and upon whom their team will rely heavily beyond this year's T20 World Cup. After that will come the well-telegraphed retirements of Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine and Lea Tahuhu, with a combined 876 International games - and 109 years - between them.
Kerr, who at 25 is already approaching 100 games in each of the white-ball formats, can increasingly hope to lean on wicketkeeper-batter Izzy Gaze with more than 75 caps having just turned 22 and her contemporary Georgia Plimmer, with 83. Then there are bowlers Rosemary Mair and Molly Penfold, who would likely have played more matches by now were it not for injury.
"We're in a great place as a group, we've got experience and we've got youth coming in and then we've got a really nice middle group who have been around long enough, played enough cricket, that also when the likes of Soph, Suzie and Lea are done, you've got those players that are also leaders within the group," Kerr said.
"Everyone in our group has a voice and you want everyone to be able to lead, but obviously three of the greats for us finish at the end of the summer and when they do finish, they will be missed, but we're excited to have them around for the English summer and what they will bring.
"We're in a sweet spot and the really cool thing about a group, or when you enter a group, is wanting to leave it in a better place. I guess when those three do step away, they can all say that they have."
There are very new faces too, with spinning allrounders Flora Devonshire and Nensi Patel and batters Emma McLeod and Izzy Sharp making their first overseas tours. They represent the very beginning of a new wave of players, motivated by New Zealand's T20 World Cup triumph in 2024.
"It put cricket, I guess, a little bit more on the map in New Zealand," Kerr said. "It probably inspired the country a little bit. People like a success story, so I did feel that we were noticed a lot more and there's been a whole lot more support for the White Ferns since the World Cup.
"In terms of where the group is going, you look at probably the average age of our group and the players within the group, so many of them are still in their very early 20s. Suzie's 38. If they want, they can have another 15 years at international cricket.
"That's pretty exciting to see where players like them who are performing now in their early 20s at international cricket - you often get better with age, you get more mature, you understand your game - to see where this group can go in years to come."
New Zealand arrived in England off the back of series wins in Kerr's first assignments in charge since her appointment in February. They thrashed Zimbabwe 3-0 in both their ODI and T20I series then defeated South Africa 4-1 in T20Is and 2-1 in ODIs, where Gaze impressed with 68 from No.6 in the second ODI. She shared a 120-run stand with Kerr, whose unbeaten 179 helped her side overhaul a target of 346 for 6 in the highest successful chase in women's ODIs.
Meanwhile, Charlie Dean will lead an injury-hit England in this ODI series, standing in for skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt who suffered a minor calf tear, while fast bowler Mahika Gaur has a fractured foot and allrounder Alice Capsey will miss the first game recovering from illness.
They have potential debutants in allrounder Jodi Grewcock, wicketkeeper-batter Kira Chathli and left-arm spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman, who is also part of the T20 World Cup squad.
"I've sort of had a week to wrap my brain around it, not initially being in the squad, but then coming in because it was a brilliant opportunity as vice-captain to take the helm and I guess growing my confidence before the World Cup in case anything should happen to Nat," Dean said.
"It's a bit of a loss for us not to have Nat around. She's here training and around the group, which is brilliant, but it was just a bit too much of a push for her to play in three 50-overs [games]. But she should be good to go for the rest of the summer, which is great."
England are reconvening competitively for the first time since the 50-over World Cup semi-final, so to start a T20 World Cup year with three ODIs might not seem ideal preparation, but Dean is buoyant about the prospect of getting the summer going.
"Following on from the ODI World Cup in October, it feels like a fresh start for us maybe in this format," Dean said. "There's obviously some new players into the squad and potentially some debuts in the horizon, which feels really exciting, but we've definitely got one eye on the World Cup.
"I think it's 194 days maybe since our last international game. We've had a really productive winter. We've not had international series, which hasn't been fantastic, but we've really made the most of the prep that we have had.
"I guess having a bit of a winter block to push on physically and up our skill level has been quite important and lots of competition within internal games… Ultimately all international cricket is fantastic preparation for the World Cup and it's brilliant that we have six games of T20 cricket before we get started."
England will follow this series with three-match T20I series against New Zealand and India ahead of the T20 World Cup opener against Sri Lanka on June 12.
