Defeat just a blip, declares defiant Knight
ENGLAND captain Heather Knight has insisted the shock loss in the Women’s World Cup opener to India will not change how her team play. With eight teams contesting the round-robin group stage, England still have another six matches from which to qualify for the semi-finals. But Knight knows her side must start winning after the 35-run defeat at Derby, beginning against Pakistan tomorrow in Leicester. ‘It’s about how we react now,’ she said. ‘Defeat won’t change how we play, but it keeps us honest. It’s not the ideal start or how we wanted to do it, but there’s a lot of cricket to be played in this tournament. ‘Hopefully we can build momentum towards the back end of the competition and a different pitch on Tuesday will dictate how we play.’ Knight said the occasion didn’t get to her side, adding: ‘I didn’t notice anything different in the warm-up or how the girls have been in the past few days. Everyone’s been very relaxed and that’s the way it’s been for the last few weeks.’ England’s premier bowlers, Anya Shrubsole and Katherine Brunt, struggled with their lengths, while fielders put down three regulation catches. Behind the stumps Sarah Taylor missed an edge down the leg side. England did not fare much better
with the bat, with four run outs the ultimate cause of their demise. Knight praised Fran Wilson’s innings of 81 and said there were positives to take from the match. ‘Fran’s come a long way in the last couple of years, she has come back into the fold and done really well,’ said all-rounder Knight. ‘To see how calm she was and the way she played was really pleasing. ‘There were a couple of run outs near the end, where we were desperately scrambling for runs, so we won’t be looking too much into it. We’ll take the positives and look to Tuesday.’ Meanwhile, South Africa scraped to a three-wicket win over Pakistan yesterday in their opening match at Leicester.