Bates banks on familiarity of conditions

"If you'd given me a choice at the start of the series between taking the ICC Championship points game 2-1, or winning the overall ODI series without those four Championship points, I would have gone for the points, no question."

That's what New Zealand Women captain Suzie Bates had said in February after her team lost the ODI series 3-2 to England, despite an initial 2-1 lead that helped them go up a place in the ICC Women's Championship. Only points from the first three ODIs were counted for the ICC tournament, and even though they got those, New Zealand are still second from bottom, only ahead of India.

Now in India for the third time, just like head coach Haidee Tiffen, Bates feels familiarity with the conditions has provided them with the required knowledge and knowhow to win the upcoming ODI series against India in Bangalore.

"Our focus is not just three first three matches, but on the entire series," Bates told ESPNcricinfo. "From playing point of view, spin is obviously going to play a much bigger part than it does at home. We've got some quicks in our team that we still think we can use out of them, but the best we can play their spinners and the best our spinners can bowl, I think that will be crucial.

"As a group we've talked about how fast the outfields can be [in India] but you've got to give yourself time to adapt when you are out in the middle and you've got to have wickets in hand to make the most of scoring runs at the end of the innings. We've talked about making sure that we play nice and straight and not playing around our pads because with the ball turning and perhaps staying a little bit lower than we are used to is not coming on as well as it does at home, so we've got to be more tight with our technique.

"With the ball we are not going to get the bounce we are used to so adjusting our lengths as quick as we can. We've toured here before and we're so well looked after that challenges off the field seem to have disappeared."

Tiffen toured India in 2003 for a bilateral series and later in 2007 for a quadrangular series. She is now on her first assignment after taking over as head coach and feels acclimatising to the conditions and pitches will be the main challenge.

"Conditions-wise I think learning to apply yourself in the heat that's a challenge," Tiffen said. "They've got some world-class players like Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, and they've got some young spinners coming through and it is a tough place to tour. Obviously the pitches are slightly different as well, they perhaps take a little bit more turn."

The first three ODIs will be in focus again for the Women's Championship and the teams that finish in top four will directly qualify for the 2017 World Cup in England. A 3-0 score at the start of the series will see New Zealand jump straight to joint-third with West Indies. And if they win 2-1, they will be placed fourth.

However, they will be without Sara McGlashan, their most experienced player, who made herself unavailable for the series. While Tiffen said that would give an opportunity to the younger players, Bates said it was not something to worry about as there's enough depth in the squad.

"She's got a personal [reason] and is looking at her career outside of cricket," Tiffen said. "That will provide an opportunity for other people to step up and we are looking at a few players to perhaps fulfil that No. 4 role. I suppose it's about trying to find out questions of those players and who can adapt quickly and pay a role for us there."

"I know we haven't been as consistent as we'd like as a group with the bat and we have relied on some of the top order but Amy Satterthwaite has had match-winning performances for us at No. 3 and she's a class player," Bates said. "Kate Broadmore has come on for us internationally at that No. 4 spot.

"Look, I think there's always pressure on the top order…that's what they are there to do, score the runs, and we know Sophie [Devine] can whack the ball and we've got Rachel Priest as well who's been outstanding over the last series against England and West Indies, she's been really consistent. Sara's a huge loss, especially in the field she leaves a bit of a hole there at cover that I might have to step up my game for."

Among the other youngsters to watch out for, Bates spoke highly of tall fast bowler Lea Tahuhu, one of their bowling stars from the 2013 World Cup in India, spinning allrounder Leigh Kasperek, who took 3 for 19 in a warm-up against India A on Friday, and 18-year-old pacer Hannah Rowe.

"Lea Tahuhu, although she's been in the side for a number of series, she's an exciting fast bowler and can bowl the ball pretty quick and she's become more and more consistent for us opening the bowling," Bates said. "We've got a couple of exciting allrounders - Anna Peterson and Leigh Kasperek - they bat lower order and bowl a bit of spin and these conditions will be really useful. There's lots of other young girls - Hannah Rowe is probably our youngest, who bowls reasonably quick and swings the ball. She's a netball player from back home as well so she brings a lot of skills and she'll just grow and learn from these conditions, she hasn't played much outside of New Zealand."

And when asked to pick between a scoreline of 2-1 from the first three matches and winning the series 3-2, Bates happily said: "5-0."