Image Credit- Getty
Luckily for England,
Amy Jones made it there at the end, where she truly wanted to be.
In the first game of their ODI series in Wellington, England defeated New
Zealand by an innings after Jones reassessed her mental approach to batting
following a run of single-figure scores. At this point, the visitors were down
to 79 for 6.
“A tricky situation talk out into, and over the last week, to be honest,
I’ve had some good reflections on areas that I want to improve in terms of
being there at the end,” Jones said. “It’s something that I feel like
I’ve fallen short at over a period of time. So I just put a bit of thought into
it, really, a bit of work around my mental game. For that to pay off today, it
ranked quite highly, I’d say.”
After Jones stepped
to the middle, England was 58 for 5, and it appeared as though New Zealand may
manage a modest total of 207 after Kate Cross, Lauren Bell, and Charlie Dean
had combined to knock the hosts out in 49 overs. This was confirmed when Amelia
Kerr bowled Danni Wyatt for just 16.
However, with Dean not out at 42, Jones and Dean combined for a record 130
runs, the best partnership for the seventh wicket in women’s ODIs, to lead
their team to victory. The two’s ability to accumulate without taking chances
was essential to their success in the absence of run-rate pressure, and it also
served as the foundation for Jones’ new way of thinking.
“Firstly, it
was just recognising where my mind was going in those past situations and
there’s definitely an element of feeling like I needed to force a boundary and
get ahead of the rate,” Jones said. “So with those reflections,
realising that I don’t need to do that, I play at my best when I’m reacting to
the ball, so that doesn’t change depending on the situation. Today me and Deano
especially, we were just constantly saying, ‘One ball at a time,’ and just
reacting, just kept in the moment, which was good. I thought we played with
freedom and did what we set out to.”