Priest hoping to make an impact in the T20 World Cup

Rachel Priest, the hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batter from New Zealand, is keen to do well ahead of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup.

“We’re here to try and win the tournament,” said Priest. “My memories from previous tournaments are both good and bad because it’s really nice to make a World Cup final, but we’ve lost on both occasions.

Of late New Zealand have not performed well in the ICC tournaments, and Priest is eager to help New Zealand win the title this time after failing to do so in the 2009 and 2010 editions despite reaching the finals.

Priest was recalled to the squad after three years. She was in good form in recent times, scoring runs in the Women's Cricket Super League, Women's Big Bash League and, more recently, in the T20Is against South Africa, returning with 56 runs in the three games. She is hungrier than ever to make an impact in the T20 World Cup starting from February 21.

“Many of us in the current squad have been in the position of coming second and we want to finally get across the line," she said. "We all need to be on board and firing because we know that a couple of good performances out of everyone will take us through to that final in Melbourne.”

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Priest's return to the New Zealand squad brings a lot of experience and firepower with it. Along with Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates, she will look to contribute with the bat at top of the order.

Priest's team-mate and skipper, Sophie Devine, is going through a purple patch that helped Adelaide Strikers make the WBBL finals. She also became the first male or female to register five fifty-plus scores. She also scored her maiden hundred and powered New Zealand to a comprehensive 3-1 victory over South Africa. Bates often played a supporting role to Devine and provided a sense of calm.

“We’ve got some really classy batters in Suzie and Sophie and hopefully I can get us off to a good start and they can come and do the rest," she said.

"As a keeper, I want to be supportive of the team and keep that buzz going on the field. I’m going to try to be aggressive at the top of the batting order. That’s just how I naturally play the way. The squad has changed a little since I’ve been away but we’ve got a really strong T20 team with many of the players having experience around the world in English and Australian competitions."