England seek 'momentum shift' in deciding ODI against India

An even scoreline going into Tuesday's deciding ODI between England and India in Durham carries stakes higher than a series win.

Victory for England would bring a more meaningful endorsement of their new leadership than sweeping West Indies aside could and with it a confidence boost ahead of the World Cup.

As co-hosts of that tournament, a loss for India feels like more of a setback, especially as they completely outplayed England in three of the five T20Is that preceded this 50-over leg of the tour.

Charlie Dean, the England offspinner who was Player of the Match in the fifth T20I with 3 for 23 as the home side took a consolation victory to make it 3-2 to the visitors, felt winning a high-pressure match against India would constitute a step forward for her team.

"Losing the T20 series as well and the first game of the 50-overs, it would probably feel like a bit of a shift, just a bit of momentum maybe," Dean said. "So to be able to pull that off would be something really special and it would give a lot of the girls a lot of confidence going to India playing some of the best teams."

When England joined India in being bundled out of the T20 World Cup at the group stage last year, there were murmurings that they hadn't been pushed enough in the lead-up, going unbeaten at home to Pakistan and eventual T20 world champions New Zealand.

When they play their first match of the 50-over World Cup on October 3 - almost a year to the day since their opening match of the T20 event - England won't have that excuse.

Their two T20I wins against India have gone down to the last over, their only comfortable victory coming in the rain-hit second ODI at Lord's where a combination of England's spinners, a lightning start to the run-chase by Tammy Beaumont and the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method helped them to an eight-wicket win with three overs to spare.

"Whenever we can challenge ourselves in pressure situations, especially in these bilateral series, we're only going to benefit from it," Dean said. "When you're in a winning position, you don't want to lose that and force yourself into places where you have to really be on it, but in a way it's good learning and a way that you grow as players.

"We've seen bilateral series where we've done really well and then when it comes to World Cup games and tournament cricket, we've maybe not had momentum or not been clinical in those pressure moments. So any chances that we can emulate that in bilateral series is perfect practice."

Dean also acknowledged that England's spinners, who took six wickets between them to cause irreparable damage to India's formidable middle-order at Lord's, could learn from their visiting counterparts.

And perhaps no one had been more instructive than Deepti Sharma, whom Dean has played with and against since being controversially run out backing up by Deepti the last time they played an ODI at Lord's, a moment Dean described as "water under the bridge" despite another feisty encounter on Saturday.

"When we look at the Indian spinners and our spinners, we are all very different bowlers and I think I've probably been drawn into some comparisons," Dean said. "But what we do as English spinners is we bowl the ball with a bit more pace on it, and that means that it might go to the boundary a little quicker, but it's something that we've had to do and that's how we play on English wickets.

"Also maybe our batters are a little more susceptible to spin than India's bating line-up. They're all brilliant sweepers, they use their feet and they really come at us hard, which is something that we look to emulate with the bat as well but we try and stay away from comparisons too much because you maybe get a little lost.

"But taking pace off and being really accurate, Deepti's just hammered the stumps and changed her pace, and it works really well for her. That's something that we can really look to try and emulate in our own way, without trying to be something that we're not."

For her own part, Dean has concentrated on adapting between formats and looked for lessons that can be used in Indian conditions in just over two months' time.

"I'm in a really good spot and that might not be reflected against all games that I've played, but having that innate sense of, 'I'm going well here,' and really backing that no matter what situation I come into is something that I've probably not had in my international career for a while," she said.

"Predominantly in English conditions I bowl a lot of scrambled seams and try and skid onto the stumps and while that has its place - particularly in Indian conditions where you get a bit more favour, a bit more turn, I can look to slow it down and really try and spin the ball - which sometimes I go away from because I feel like if it's turning too much, I might miss the stumps.

"Sometimes accuracy can be your biggest currency in women's cricket, so it's just knowing the right moment to go between different plans. But all that's doing is building a portfolio of skills that I have in my basket that I can hopefully go out and use when it comes to the World Cup."