England captain Heather Knight on T20 World Cup ambition and Ashes redemption
Last summer’s defeat to Australia could be perfect motivation for England women’s side
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Your support makes all the difference.England were outfought and outplayed in last summer’s Ashes, but captain Heather Knight believes that setback could be the turning point for their T20 World Cup chances.
Knight and her side were ruthlessly put to the sword by Meg Lanning’s Australia on home turf in July, with their sole win of the multi-format series coming long after the urn was already lost.
A period of soul searching followed as new players entered the fray, while Lisa Keightley took over the reins from Mark Robinson as head coach over the winter.
Now the time has come for the 2009 T20 World Cup champions to leave the talking to one side, with no better setting to prove themselves than the global showcase Down Under.
“We learnt a hell of a lot from what was a tough summer,” said Knight, speaking at the T20 World Cup captains’ media day at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo.
“We didn’t play anywhere near our best and Australia completely outplayed us. It gave us a chance to sit down as a team, work out where we are as a side and how we want to take things forward.
“That Ashes gave us a chance to reassess what we want to do, we’ve had a good six months, had a few retirements and introduced some new young players, and those players have brought a real freshness and enthusiasm heading into this competition.
“We’re really clear with how we want to play our cricket and that’s a result of the Ashes. Hopefully it will be a good thing for us that that happened.
“We’ve got some great intel – Lisa played in Australia for many years, coached here for a long time, so she’s going to be fundamental for knowing the conditions and the players.
“She’s very relaxed which is lovely, I’m really enjoying working with her, so hopefully we can have some success out here.”
England’s road to redemption starts in Perth on Sunday morning, with South Africa first up in a group that also features former T20 world champions West Indies.
Australia have been avoided in the group stage, but if Knight’s team have any ambition of lifting the trophy at the MCG next month, they must prepare to match up with and beat their old foe.
Achieve that and they would complete the limited-overs World Cup double, having won the 50-over competition on home soil three years ago.
“We had a great experience in 2017, which was unique in terms of expectation,” Knight said.
“There’s a lot of momentum in this competition, similar to then. I went for coffee in Sydney and saw [Australian all-rounder] Ellyse Perry’s face on the side of three different buses!
“You want to be tested at a World Cup, finding ways to improve and learn and the tri-series was brilliant for that – we’re now just ready to get going.”
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