Heather Knight's England bank on continuity heading into T20 World Cup
England captain says team is in a "great spot" ahead of marquee event in the UAE.
Heather Knight’s England had a fulfilling home season ahead of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024, with series against Pakistan, New Zealand and Ireland ensuring their preparation was on point.
The side dabbled in experimentation against Ireland and the series gave their core some valuable game time ahead of what will be a tough tournament.
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Knight believes these series have played a crucial role in helping the team get to a great space ahead of the tournament.
“We are clear about how we want to do things and how we want to play," Knight said in her column on the ICC. "We have prepared the best we can and feel in a great spot."
Knight was particularly pleased about how her players had delivered under pressure in recent months.
“I’m really excited by the squad we have selected for the tournament in the UAE," she said. "We’ve got a lot of bases covered and over the last year, everyone in the squad has stepped up at some point to put in brilliant performances to help the team win games of cricket.
“We want to make great memories both on and off the pitch and everyone is excited for the month ahead.”
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England haven’t won a Women’s T20 World Cup since their triumph against New Zealand in the final of the inaugural edition in 2009.
It's been a long wait for the T20 trophy since then, but Knight stressed on the need to not succumb to the pressure.
“It’s important not to change how we play because it’s the World Cup with added pressure and added external expectations to be successful," she said. "It’s about doing the best we can and approaching it with a one-game-at-a-time mentality.
“T20 can be the most volatile and unpredictable of the formats so we need to get our mindset right, don’t change things too much because it’s a World Cup and we’ll see how we go.”
England are in Group B of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 along with Scotland, West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh.
They begin their campaign against Bangladesh on 5 October.