Picking up good habits

Clare Connor: England developed a winning habit in South Africa © Getty Images

Winning is a habit best unbroken and England's women developed it nicely in South Africa. Having lost the first one-day international we took the next four and nothing was more satisfying than seeing the determination to win the last match when the series was already secured. It is the first time we have managed four consecutive wins since the World Cup in 1993 and it was a good way to leave South Africa, where we return for the next World Cup in less than a year.

Winning is its own reassurance as long as the right preparation and playing processes are in place and understood by the players. Our new head coach, the former Nottinghamshire off-spinner Richard Bates, has brought the latter to our game in the past six months. He has raised our tactical awareness and made clearer our vision of how we want to play.

The tour started with a five-day acclimatisation camp at the high performance centre in Pretoria. This is the national training centre for South African rugby, cricket, hockey and swimming. It has Olympic swimming pools, a rugby stadium and 72 acres of rugby pitches, 12 tennis courts, four cricket ovals, a gym and sports medicine centre, suggesting that this country takes its sport seriously.

Surrounded by international competitors within such an environment we had no problem settling into hard work. It is rare for us to benefit from such a thorough preparation period on tour but it was valuable in terms of adjusting to conditions and change in altitude.

We won our three warm-up matches against provincial and invitational sides with the top order all firing and the bowlers finding their rhythm. In fact our opening bat Charlotte Edwards never stopped firing for the rest of the series.

She made a hard-fought fifty in the first ODI but the other batsmen could not stay with her. From 43 for 3 after 15 overs, we were 121 for 9 after 40 and it was only a career-best 22 not out from our No. 11 Lucy Pearson that took us to 152. Even so we took the match to the last ball but a scrambled final run gave the South Africans a hard-fought victory.

To come back and win the next two games by 119 runs and seven wickets confirmed my belief that this England squad is mentally tougher than in recent times. Buffalo Park, home of Border Cricket, was the venue for the second ODI. Winning the toss and batting first gave us an immediate opportunity to put that poor score of 152 behind us and we amassed 281 for 7. Edwards led with a chanceless 102 and her opening partner Laura Newton contributed 65 in a stand of 142. The other batsmen chipped in with run-a-ball contributions and we took the field knowing that, if we bowled well, this total should be beyond our opponents and it was.

Laudium CC, in Pretoria, may prove a valuable experience as it is a World Cup ground next year. A mysterious-looking wicket had persuaded me that I should bowl first. The South Africans chose to bat anyway. Through some disciplined bowling and better use of the sweepers in the field we kept them to 157. Again Edwards dominated our winning reply with an unbeaten 84.

Five days of torrential rain prompted a reshuffling of the itinerary and led to some poor practice facilities, early starts and long journeys. The fourth ODI was held in Lenasia, a development area near Soweto, on another low, cracked pitch, not the type of surface we had expected to find in South Africa.

Again we adjusted positively to score 242, Claire Taylor striking a brilliant 82 from 76 balls after Edwards started us off with 58. We all chipped in with wickets and South Africa ended on 142.

Celebrations at our series win were restricted to one drink, a bowl of pasta and every player asleep by 10pm. We had to be up at 6am the next day to drive 150km to the stadium at Potchefstroom, the rearranged venue for the final match.

Batting first we made 254, Edwards completing a royal flush of half-centuries with 81 and Rosalie Birch making 42 from 38 balls. Birch then took five for 50 with her off-spinners as we kept South Africa to 216. We will shortly start over again with preparations to take on New Zealand in August, our final international series prior to the World Cup.