The New Zealand Women’s team will be taking on the Mithali Raj-led India Women’s team in a five-match ODI series. The series is part of the ICC Women’s Championship and the results have a bearing on their qualification for the ICC Women’s World Cup, 2017. Points are awarded for each game, with the top four sides at the conclusion of the ICC Women‘s Championship gaining automatic qualification to the ICC Women‘s World Cup 2017, to be hosted by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
The visiting Suzie Bates-led side are currently No. 7 in the points table while hosts’ India are lying at the bottom, No 8 in the Championship’s points table. As mentioned on ICC's website, the bottom four sides will have a second chance to qualify for the marquee event through the ICC Women‘s World Cup Qualifier 2017, details of which will be announced in due course. Joined by six regional qualifiers, the bottom four will face off for the final four positions at the ICC Women‘s World Cup 2017.
Speaking about the significance of the series in the given background, Bates said, “This series is important for both the teams. We have talked as a group about not only how important are the first three games which count for points, but that the whole tour is equally important. We want to win both series (ODI and T20I) and win well. There is a huge emphasis on making sure that we stay consistent throughout the tour. We are not here to focus on the first three ODIs only. A whole series win will be a big deal. We know India are tough in their own conditions and they will want to get points as well. So the first match is going to be a really big one.”
Discussing her team’s preparations of the crucial series, the NZ captain said, “The last time we played them was 2013, in a warm-up match during the ICC World Cup. So we knew coming over here from our winter we had a lot of work to do in these conditions. So we came over earlier…almost ten days. We have a warm-up (game) lined up tomorrow. We knew it would take a while to get used to the conditions, the heat, coming from zero degrees celsius. So it’s been a change for some of us. We are adapting to the conditions as much before heading to the first match.”
“It’s been as good as it could have been with the time we have been allowed over here. The last time we headed to the West Indies we only had three or four days before our first game. That didn’t help so we made sure we got over here earlier and we had a camp back home in Lincoln. Indoors and working on our game plan, we are pretty happy with how the preparations have been so far,” she added.
Elaborating on the aspects that will play a key role for the side on the tour, Bates mentioned, “From the playing point of view, spin will play a much bigger part more than it does at home. We have got some quicks in our team but we know our spinners as well their spinners [. …..] How our spinners perform will be crucial.”
While coach Haidee Tiffen added, “Sticking to our plans and staying together as a unit (will be important). It’s not always easy. Conditions wise, just learning to apply yourselves in the heat is a challenge in itself. We are just trying to keep things simple and not trying to over dramatise things. We enjoy touring here; we love the hospitality, the people. As international cricketers we want to play against some of the best teams in the world as often as we can. It’s going to be a really wonderful series.”
Speaking about the form of the team, Bates said, “We played England at home and we won the ICC part of the series 2-1. And the third game we had a partnership between Rachel Priest and Amy Satherwhite and that was for me one of the proudest moments as captain of the side England being such a strong team. But we couldn’t finish of the series as we should have. England came back. The girls have lots of different goals to keep up to. Rachel Priest has been outstanding as an opener, Amy Satterthwaite at No 3 has been world class and we have got the likes of Sophie Devine who can hit the ball pretty hard down the order. We have got many senior players in the tour who have to step up and score bulk of the runs. We also have some exciting youngsters who haven’t been in these conditions but look good. We will see how they go.”
Speaking about her role and the tour, the coach added, “I am very excited about the opportunity and I am incredibly proud to be part of this White Ferns group again. Playing India in India is always a challenge. As a player I loved touring here. The hospitality has been brilliant. The challenge is more about we keeping to our game plan and focusing on what we want to achieve as a team. We have had the opportunities to get together at home and even here. We have adapted pretty well.”
