Knight: England can copy Pakistan
Heather Knight believes Pakistan’s Champions Trophy success is the ideal blueprint for England’s women as they look to recover from their defeat by India.
Sarfraz Ahmed’s team initially seemed disorganised, but went through the gears as the tournament progressed, and England’s women must now do the same, starting against Pakistan’s women in Leicester today.
Four nations progress to the semi-finals from an eight-team group in which everyone plays each other. Whoever lift the trophy at Lord’s on July 23 will be undisputed winners, with the luck of the draw playing no part.
“Pakistan started in a similar way in the Champions Trophy and ended up doing pretty well,” said Knight. “The girls have taken the positives and looked ahead to Tuesday. We competed against India but there are a few areas where we want to get better.
“The India defeat won’t change the way we approach the game on Tuesday. It keeps us honest but it’s about how we react now.
“The mood in the squad isn’t too bad because we fought really hard to get back in the game against India. In general, we are quite an emotional team but it’s important that we keep our heads up.
“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 and hopefully we can build momentum towards the back end of the competition.”
England must improve with the ball having let India get off to a flier in Derby with overhead conditions in their favour. Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole were given some punishment, the pair’s 13 overs going for 87 runs, but have enough experience not to be adversely affected.
After much pre-tournament talk about how visiting teams would deal with a moving new ball in English conditions, the hosts actually exerted their greatest control through their slower bowlers in the middle overs. Reaching 246 was a determined attempt to achieve their highest-ever run chase, and Fran Wilson’s skilful 81 at No 5 indicated England’s batting is in rude health.
Sarah Taylor, back in the England fold after a self-imposed absence due to a stress-related illness, will open again against Pakistan as Laura Winfield has a wrist injury.
Vice-captain Shrubsole, meanwhile, says several of the squad have taken a self-imposed socialmedia break during the World Cup.
“Some people have decided they don’t want to be on social media and are just trying to remove as many distractions as possible,” she told Test Match Special.
“Twitter’s obviously a brilliant tool but can be a distraction, you
can see and read things you don’t necessarily want to.”
Pakistan are also trying to bounce back, after a three-wicket defeat by South Africa.
Captain Sana Mir is hoping that the fact her side played their previous match at Grace Road will aid their cause.
“It is definitely an advantage that we have already played at Grace Road, but we know England are a very professional side and they will come hard at us,” she said.
“But we are ready for that. If they have a reaction, we have a reaction, too. We have also lost. We will go with the same fighting spirit as we came with here.”