Heather Knight said that Dani Gibson personifies the “bravery” and “clarity” that England want in their T20I side ahead of October’s World Cup. Gibson’s nine-ball innings of 22 contained five boundaries, all off international bowlers, and changed the course of the Hundred final at Lord’s to help London Spirit win their maiden title – men’s or women’s.
Gibson walked out at No. 5 after Knight had been castled by Shabnim Ismail’s 74mph in-ducker, which left Spirit 56 for 3 off 56 balls, with a requirement of 60 to win off the last 44. She inside-edged her first ball for a single, then hit her next five for boundaries to take the requirement down to a run a ball and change the complexion of the game.
“I forget how young she is,” Knight said of Gibson, who turned 23 earlier this year. “We saw the game she played at Lord’s, a reverse-sweep to go and win the game against Australia last year, and that’s the sort of mindset that we want in that England side: the willingness to take risks, take the game on and express what your talent, and Dani epitomises that.
“She’s a player that can impact a game in all three facets… she hasn’t gone as well as she would’ve liked with the ball in the last couple of games, but [to have] the character to go, ‘I’m going to go and win this game for us’ was unbelievable. She’s a great ball-striker. She’s got real clarity about how she wants to play and that’s exactly what we want for her. I’m delighted for her.”
Gibson, who has batted exclusively at No. 5 after opening the batting last season, had only faced two balls in Spirit’s previous four games heading into the final, following a series of dominant top-order performances.
“I was thinking yesterday that our middle order hasn’t faced many balls or had much time in the middle recently,” Knight said. “We talked a lot about trying not to have nervous chasers and really trying to break the back of it. Today’s innings was a real stand-out for her to go in and be that brave, and take the game on. It took the pressure off the rest of the batters.”
After steering Ismail past short third, Gibson pulled the third ball she faced through midwicket for four. “It was really important for me to get off to a good start,” she said. “I’ve never actually played the pull shot very well, so I was buzzing with myself. I was disappointed with how I bowled [0 for 16 from 10 balls] and felt like I’d let the team down.”
Knight was the second-highest run-scorer in the women’s Hundred this year, and Gibson said she felt the need to take on some responsibility after her captain’s dismissal: “Heather has batted so well for us throughout the comp: it was time for other people to step up… I didn’t want to think about things too much. That’s when I’m at my best: I just wanted to play simple cricket and see where it took me.”
Gibson fell with 27 required off the final 29 balls, and Deepti Sharma took Spirit over the line with two balls to spare, swiping a six over long-on. “Deepti has been unbelievable with bat and ball, her clarity and calmness,” Knight said. “Bar today, her intent has been awesome, the willingness to take the game on.”
England will head to Abu Dhabi next month ahead of October’s T20 World Cup, and Knight believes that her players will do so with confidence after dominant performances in the Hundred. “I’m really pleased,” she said. “It’s great to see the rest of the girls contributing and I’m very excited to meet up again in a couple of weeks.
“Nat [Sciver-Brunt] has been unbelievable. She’s barely got out and the way she’s played has been awesome. It’s really pleasing going into a World Cup. I haven’t probably had the best few Hundreds, so I was really desperate to do well this year. I was really pleased to contribute… I felt quite fresh and really wanted to show what form I’m in.”
There is uncertainty over whether the tournament will be staged in Bangladesh as planned due to security concerns amid anti-government uprisings, and Knight is hopeful that a decision will be reached in the next week. “It’s out of our hands, and the focus has been on this competition [the Hundred],” she said.
“Hopefully, there will be a decision soon with planning and things like that, and getting things in place – obviously squads [are] being picked. It shouldn’t impact it too much, but it’d be nice to know where it is and get our hands around that and what the conditions are going to be like.
“It depends where it is, really. If it’s in the UAE, conditions in October are pretty similar to Bangladesh in terms of pace of wickets and bounce… we won’t have a huge amount of experience there, but obviously we’ve got a training camp in Abu Dhabi. We’ll have to wait and see: hopefully, we’ll find out next week.”
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
