The seed was planted in Nelson back in March , when a bungled run-chase saw England squander the chance to go 3-0 up in a T20I series against New Zealand.
England ended up winning 4-1 and, while the White Ferns threw on some fertiliser with a consolation win in the last of three ODIs, England captain Heather Knight believes the root of her team's domination of the return tour can be traced back to that third T20I.
Now, England are on the cusp of securing an undefeated home summer at Lord's in the fifth and final T20I after sweeping the ODIs against New Zealand 3-0 and beating Pakistan 3-0 and 2-0 in T20I and ODI series respectively.
"That T20 that we lost in New Zealand, Amy Jones actually spoke brilliantly after that and talked about her fears in T20 chases, and actually made a conscious effort to address that mentally and how she wants to go about chasing," Knight said at Lord's on Wednesday.
"She spoke really well in front of the group around that, and I think that was quite infectious really, and was a bit of a fire-starter for us wanting to be a bit more ruthless and really nail teams when we are on top. That's something that's going to be so important in tournament cricket.
"I think our skill level has continued to improve as well. That New Zealand loss in the T20 series where we didn't chase down a score that we should have was a bit of a catalyst for us to ultimately not let that happen again, and when we're really on top, to really nail teams."
Against Pakistan, the 'nailing teams' objective remained beneath the surface with England winning but without the ruthless streak that has blossomed while hosting New Zealand.
"A lot of people have said to me, 'New Zealand haven't been great'. But I think we've been awesome," Knight said. "I think the way we've kept their key players quiet probably needs a little bit more credit, to be honest.
"The way we've played and put them under pressure, and been relentless when we've been on top and trying to keep them quiet has been great. We are desperate to finish this summer unbeaten. It's not something we've done very often. It's our last game of the summer and we want to continue what we've done."
The White Ferns' batting has let them down against England's top-class bowling attack, led by spinners Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn and Charlie Dean. That has coincided with the hosts showing off the depth of their line-up, with several batters finding form. It has also left England with some difficult selection decisions ahead of the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in October.
Maia Bouchier appears to have secured an opening berth alongside Danni Wyatt, with both having rested at various stages of the T20I series to give Sophia Dunkley a chance to show her improvement after losing her place following the tour of New Zealand and rediscovering her touch in regional cricket.
In both matches she has played, Dunkley has made solid starts with 35 and 26 and her versatility in being able to bat up and down the order could earn her a place in the squad as the spare batter.
"She's looked completely at home again," Knight said. "She's got us off to some brilliant starts in the two games that she's played and that is something that Sophia does give us when she's at her best. For me, it looks like she's back towards her best. That decision is pretty tricky around the players that we have and that's a really good place to be."
Mahika Gaur , England's teenage left-arm seamer, has thrown up another conundrum after missing the early part of the summer to complete her high school exams, then picking up a side strain which has kept her out and prompted her to withdraw from the Hundred to continue her rehabilitation.
"It's tricky," Knight said. "She hasn't played a huge amount for England because of her exams and then injury. We were hoping she could get a few games in this series, but that side issue has obviously come back and I think the thing with young players, you have to be really careful - particularly young, fast bowlers - with how you manage them and not push them too far.
"She's not completely out of our plans, but it does make it harder for us to pick her now obviously with those seamers that we've got performing really well."
England look set to take a spin-heavy attack to Bangladesh. Lauren Filer offers raw pace to offset her relative inexperience at international level, fellow seamer Lauren Bell is starting to see the benefits of changing her action and Nat Sciver-Brunt is increasing her bowling load after a knee problem. Freya Kemp , who has added to England's batting depth, is also returning to her allrounder role after a back injury.
If Pakistan and New Zealand's performances have made putting England's into context difficult, it's worth looking back to their tour of India late last year, where they lost the Test but won the T20I series 2-1, and last year's Ashes, where England won both white-ball series in a drawn campaign after Australia won the Test.
"I guess we've proved in the last 12 months that we can beat anyone on our day," Knight said. "The Ashes series last summer showed that, particularly in the white-ball series, how we played, winning those series 2-1.
"But ultimately we're just trying to keep improving as well. That's been a really pleasing thing: [not just] the way we've played, but also the fact that as individuals, we're still trying to get better, we're still trying to work on things.
"We know other teams around the world are going to be doing that. We can only look after ourselves as a team and try and keep moving the game forward and playing how we want to. Bangladesh will be a tough test to see if we can do that in a big tournament as well."
Most Popular
Comments / 0