It's been almost a dozen years between drinks with the New Zealand WHITE FERNS determined to make the most of their tour of India that gets underway this afternoon (New Zealand time) in Bengaluru, southern India.
While the WHITE FERNS have visited India in intervening years for the 2013 World Cup — in which captain Suzie Bates was named ICC player of the tournament — and a quadrangular tournament, it's the first traditional away series in India for all the players.
That makes the experience of new coach Haidee Tiffen invaluable, as Tiffen was in the Maia Lewis-led side that toured India in 2003 — when the WHITE FERNS drew their lone Test match, lost a close ODI rubber to India Women 2-3, and played at the same ground in Bengaluru, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the 2015 tourists will play all five of their ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals.
Said Tiffen, "Conditions wise, just learning to apply yourself and focus in the heat is a challenge, coming from a winter where it's been zero degrees. But we enjoy the challenge and enjoy the opportunity to tour here.
"We want to play international cricket as often as we can, and test ourselves against the world class players in the India side. We're all fighting to try and be the best in the world and we are so grateful for the opportunity to have this series."
Today's 50-over match against India A (UPDATE: Scorecard) shapes as a vital warmup. The WHITE FERNS must hit the ground running to score 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup qualifying points in the first three of their five-match ODI Series, and the squad has spent the best part of their first week in India in an intensive training camp in nearby Alur, basing themselves at the same ground and facilities used by the SKYCITY Northern Knights ahead of last year's Champions League in an effort to successfully acclimatise and adjust to Karanataka's sweltering monsoon season heat.
Captain Suzie Bates said adapting to the conditions is the key for her side, which is coming off a see-sawing home Series against England in February. Beating the strong England side 2-1 in the ICC Women's Championship games in that Series was "one of my proudest moments a a captain", says Bates, and she is determined to learn from the squad's missteps in the West Indies late last year.
Return visitor Kate Broadmore in action against England earlier this year. Photo: Photosport
"We knew we had to get over here as early as could, and we're pretty happy with how the prep has gone so far.
“Our girls have lots of different goals to keep up to. Rachel Priest has been outstanding in both formats opening, Amy Satterthwaite at number three has been world class and we’ve got the likes of Sophie Devine who can hit the ball pretty hard down the order and is a world class allrounder. We’ve got plenty of senior players on the tour who need to step up and score the bulk of the runs, but we also have some exciting youngsters who haven’t played in these conditions but are looking pretty good in the nets.
"Spin will obviously play a much bigger part than it does at home but we still think the quicks in our team can be useful in these conditions."
WHITE FERNS pace bowler Lea Tahuhu is rated one of the fastest in women's international cricket. Photo: Photoport
