Heather Knight says that England’s women are determined not to “rip up any trees” in the wake of their meek exit from last month’s T20 World Cup, and backed her players to take the criticism in their stride as they enter the first of match of their multi-format series against South Africa, in East London on Sunday.
With seven matches across three formats looming in the coming weeks, followed by the women’s Ashes in Australia in January, Knight insisted that now was not the time for “big change” to a team that came through an unbeaten home summer against Pakistan and New Zealand, and had been highly fancied to challenge for their first T20 World Cup title since 2009.
That all changed, however, in a catastrophic defeat to West Indies in Dubai, in which a foot injury for Knight exposed her team-mates in the field. Qiana Joseph and Hayley Matthews capitalised on a spate of dropped catches, striking rapid fifties in an eight-wicket victory that dumped England out of the tournament on net run-rate.
“We don’t become a bad side because we played poorly in 10 overs in the World Cup,” Knight said on the eve of the first T20I. “Leading up to that, we played some brilliant cricket, so it’s obviously a bit of a bump in the road. It’s going to keep us quite humble, and keep us motivated to get better, but I think it’s really important that we don’t rip up trees.”
Knight, 34 next month, has encountered a fair few ups and downs for England in her 14-year career – including captaining the team to their 50-over World Cup victory in 2017. However, she acknowledged that the reaction to their exit was more vitriolic than anything she had previously encountered, with her former team-mate Alex Hartley leading the inquisition with her suggestion that some of England’s players were letting the side down with their fitness levels.
“It’s the biggest response that I’ve seen as a player, for sure, and it’s a good lesson for us,” Knight said. “As the game grows and there’s more eyes on us, and there’s more reward for being an international cricketer, naturally that scrutiny is going to increase, and actually it’s a real good sign of where the game is at.
“How we deal with it, and how we move forward from it, is really important,” she added. “It’s about looking at the people around you, and staying strong within the group. Ultimately, the biggest opinions that are important to us as players and staff are in this circle, in the people around us.”
That determination to stay the course was shown in England’s squad selection for this tour, with Alice Capsey’s omission from the T20I leg the only significant change, albeit one that has since been over-turned. Knight confirmed that she would remain on the sidelines for now, having continued to struggle for runs throughout her stint with Melbourne Renegades in the Women’s Big Bash, with Sophia Dunkley set to reclaim her place at No.3.
“We’ve been pretty clear with Alice around the reasons behind why we left her out,” Knight said. “That’s probably in terms of consistency of performance. We’re excited to see what Sophia does. She’s obviously gone through being dropped and having to improve, and force her way back into the side. We feel like she’s done that, with the form that she’s shown in the nets. Now it’s for her to transfer those changes to the middle.”
After recovering from her World Cup injury, Knight proved her fitness is back on track during her recent stint with Sydney Thunder in the WBBL. However, she insisted her presence as captain wasn’t fundamental to the team’s fortunes, as they prepare to face a South Africa side that has now reached each of the last two T20 World Cup finals.
“There’s a huge amount of leaders in this group,” Knight said. “That spell [against West Indies] was an unfair representation of the leaders that we do have in the group, and I really do feel like the likes of Nat [Sciver-Brunt], Amy [Jones] and Sophie [Ecclestone] have really grown into that role as more senior players in the last year or two.
“I’m still enjoying leading the group, and part of that role is to try and grow the people around me, and put the younger players in a place where they can almost lead themselves. But I don’t think the team’s completely lost without me. That’s not a narrative that I totally agree with.”
With the Ashes looming in the new year, Knight admitted it was hard not to have “half an eye” on that challenge down under, but acknowledged that the best possible preparation was to compete well against South Africa – the team who ended Australia’s 14-year reign as T20 World champions with their semi-final victory in Dubai last month.
“We’re really excited to play here in South Africa,” Knight said. “It’s a brilliant sporting nation. You know what you’re going to get from South Africa. They’re going to be very passionate, very aggressive, very proud in how they go about their business.
“We’re certainly not expecting an easy South African challenge, that’s for sure. The team just made back-to-back T20 World Cup finals, so no-one is expecting anything less than quite a tough challenge.
“The South Africans have grown a lot in the last few years, and they’ve really become a little bit more aggressive, particularly the bat. So how we deal with that is going to be really important in this series.
“But in terms of proving a point, I think that’s down to the individual. Some people will be driven by that, others will just want to keep getting better and keep doing what they do really well. It’s a good media narrative to write, but we just want to bring our best cricket, keep growing as a side, and adapt to what’s in front of us.”
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
