CHENNAI: As England opener and keeper Amy Jones held her nerve to take the hosts home in the second ODI, one of the stand out aspects of her unbeaten 57-ball 46 was the way she negated the Indian spinners. In many ways, the trio of Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana and N Shree Charani have been the X-factor of sorts for India throughout this tour.
It started with a 3-2 T20I series win and has now arrived at Chester-le-Street for one last dance with India and England going up against each other to win the three-match ODI series. England head coach Charlotte Edwards has enjoyed the hard-fought contests. "It's been a brilliant series, I think from the Trent Bridge game, which feels like a long time ago, to now, I think it's been really competitive. Obviously disappointed we lost the T20I series. But I think, once the ODIs come around, this is a really important prep in terms of the World Cup. It's all to play for now in Durham, which we're all looking forward to. I think you want to be part of these sort of must-win games to win the series," Edwards told this daily in a conversation facilitated by Sony Sports Network on Monday.
For England, the biggest challenge thus far has been tackling the Indian spinners. Contrary to the home side, Harmanpreet Kaur and Co have consistently fielded a spin-heavy side and reaped the results as well. It was evident during the T20Is and even more so in the first two ODIs. Out of the 71 overs India sent down across two games — the second ODI was a rain-curtailed one — 44 overs came from Rana, Sharma, Pratika Rawal and Charani. Each spinner has played a different role, bowling in different phases of the game. Rana feels that the communication between the trio has helped in terms of the planning and execution as she has taken three wickets in two games while operating at 3.3 runs per over.
"See, it all depends on the pitch conditions. How the pitch will play that day and we had a word with our coaches as well. With Charani, it is always the same thing. Because we have played in this venue or in England before. So, the experience we have, we share it. We keep talking to each other on which ball will work that day, what trajectory to bowl, so on and so forth," Rana said in the pre-match presser on Monday.
Edwards, meanwhile, feels England have spent enough time watching and learning how to counter the Indian spinners over the last few weeks. "This is our eighth game. I think as you've seen our batting line-up, we have seen a much improved performance every game, in my opinion. So I think the Indian bowlers are very disciplined. They bowl to their fields. And I think we've talked a lot about that, their discipline. But equally, sometimes when it's disciplined, we've got to counter that. I think the batters have gone away and looked at different plans they can implement," Edwards said, before adding, "I think what's been really impressive for me is how our batting unit have gone away and looked to improve and counter the Indian attack. So, yeah, it's set up really nicely for tomorrow (Tuesday)."
England have their share of quality spinners in Sophie Eccleston, Charlie Dean and Linsey Smith who have shared nine wickets between them in the first two ODIs. That is despite having pacers like Lauren Bell, Lauren Filer and Issy Wong in the mix.
"Yeah, I mean, that's what you've got to assess very quickly, isn't it? What conditions suit certain balances of attack? But I think our spin attack is world-class. I think both Sophie and Charlie have been leading spinners in world cricket over the last few years. So we are very lucky. So yeah, that's done on a match-by-match basis. We have got lots of variety within our attack, which is a really good thing. We see that as a positive thing. And that's a headache that Nat (Sciver-Brunt) and I have got to deal with. And I think between us both now having this West Indies series and this series, you're starting to get a real feel for the right balance and the right personnel within those roles," said Edwards.
Come Tuesday, in a contest where everything matters, it might come down to which spin attack have a better day to determine the winners.
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