No complacency from fired-up Brunt

Katherine Brunt insists England women will have their heads “screwed on” when they chase a first series win in India.

The world’s number one side suffered shock defeats in the one-day and Twenty20 series in West Indies in November, and can expect an assignment of even greater magnitude on the sub-continent.

England have never tasted success on Indian soil, but Brunt believes their Caribbean disappointment served as a timely reality check after a year of almost unfettered dominance.

“That was just a little hiccup for us,” the pace bowler told ECBtv ahead of the squad’s departure this weekend.

“I’m not sure if we were too complacent, but we won’t let that happen again. We’re going to screw our heads back on.

Katherine Brunt insists England have been putting in 30% more effort as they attempt to atone for their West Indies slip

“We’ve tried to put in an extra 30% (in training) and we won’t be making the same mistake again. We’re confident going out there.

“We want to make some history - we want to have our first series win out there. It will be good to get back out to India. I’m looking forward to it and very confident.”

If England as a team fell some way short of reproducing their best form in the West Indies, Brunt herself performed admirably, with nine wickets at an average of 19 over the six games.

However, she is anticipating a much tougher challenge on surfaces which traditionally offer seamers precious little assistance.

“From what I’ve experienced of the tracks for bowlers, it’s not too good,” she said, casting her mind back to England’s previous tour of India in late 2005.

“The ball doesn’t bounce as much as you want and it’s not as quick as you want. It’s never too good for fast bowlers.”

Brunt’s approach in India, when England will play five one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals, is “to bowl good lines and lengths”.

She added: “Full and straight is probably the key out there - that’s what we’ve been working on, and especially variations. We’ve been working a lot on slower balls and bouncers.

“We’ve been trying to bowl it in that channel as much as we can. We want to bore the hell out of the batsmen.”