Heather Knight: Sri Lanka sequence marks begin of latest World Cup cycle
Heather Knight says that England’s T20I sequence in opposition to Sri Lanka marks the beginning of the workforce’s new cycle, within the wake of a transformative Ashes marketing campaign this summer time, and that the purpose of the approaching weeks shall be to create competitors for locations forward of subsequent 12 months’s T20 Women’s World Cup in Bangladesh.
Speaking on the eve of the primary T20I at Hove on Thursday, Knight talked enthusiastically concerning the “freshness” inside a youthful squad, from which a number of notable names shall be lacking – amongst them Sophie Ecclestone (who had been because of sit out the sequence even previous to her shoulder dislocation last week), Sophia Dunkley and Nat Sciver-Brunt.
In their place come two uncapped children: Mahika Gaur, the 17-year-old left-arm seamer who impressed for Manchester Originals having made her worldwide bow for the UAE as a 12-year-old, and Bess Heath, Northern Superchargers’ hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batter.
Freya Kemp, one of many break-out stars of England’s 2022 season, returns (as a batter solely) after a again harm, whereas Knight promised that one of many major beneficiaries for this sequence could be Maia Bouchier, the proficient 24-year-old whose alternatives at worldwide degree have been restricted to 19 T20Is since 2021, however whose haul of 268 runs at 38.28 within the Hundred was a key consider Southern Brave’s maiden title.
“We’ve obviously rested a few senior players so that gives us a chance to give opportunities to few youngsters, and try and grow the pool of players that we’re picking from,” Knight mentioned. “Maia deserves an opportunity because we’ve been carrying around for a long time and she’s been amazing in the Hundred as well.
“We wish to see how these ladies adapt to worldwide cricket, how they’re across the group, how they react to issues. I believe it is actually thrilling. The extra gamers that we will have, pulling down the door and holding everybody on their toes … I believe actually good groups have that competitors.”
The most exciting name on the squad-list, however, is Gaur, whose remarkable physical attributes, allied to her extreme youth, mark her out as a potential superstar of the future.
“She’s distinctive, a left-armer that is truly six foot three, which is fairly mad,” Knight said. “I believe she’s had a development spurt for the reason that first time I met her a pair months in the past. She clearly brings that, and she or he’s obtained a reasonably good motion and swings the ball late.”
Knight confirmed that Gaur would be handed her England debut at some stage of the campaign, but acknowledged that, as captain, she would be obliged to ease her new recruit into the action and not expect too much, too soon.
“She’s clearly very younger, so we’ll should handle her fairly rigorously and ensure we’re taking care of her as an individual and as a cricketer,” Knight said. “Younger gamers coming in provides that freshness, and assessments my expertise as a captain.
“She’s certainly exciting, but I don’t know her super well, so I’ll just try to keep her calm, really, and do the things she’s done domestically that have been so impressive.
“It all the time feels totally different internationally. There’s extra pressures, extra scrutiny. So it is about how they deal with that and simply making an attempt to play the cricket that we wish them to play, that matches in with the workforce.”
The sequence would be the first during which England’s women will receive equal match fees to their male counterparts, a growth which Knight mentioned felt like due “reward” for a remarkable summer in which they matched Australia blow for blow in an 8-8 Ashes campaign, and attracted 110,000 fans across the seven matches.
“That [series] felt like an actual watershed second,” Knight said, adding that the challenge for her players now was to keep moving forward, given that Australia’s world-beating team will doubtless be seeking their own improvements ahead of the World Cup, after being run so close this summer.
“With the World Cup a 12 months away, Australia and different groups are going to be seeking to get higher and enhance. There’s plenty of areas that we will nonetheless get higher in, come Bangladesh in October subsequent 12 months, so that is the beginning of that that post-Ashes cycle.”
Despite the absence of some big-name players, Knight insisted that England would not be taking Sri Lanka lightly, especially in light of their impressive display in the last T20 World Cup in February, where they beat the hosts and eventual finalists, South Africa, in their opening match at Newlands.
“They’ve simply overwhelmed New Zealand for the primary time ever too, in order that they’ll be fairly assured and on a excessive from that,” Knight added. “They’ve obtained a world-class higher in [Chamari] Athapaththu, who could be actually laborious to cease when she will get going. And they have some wily spinners within the center so we have actually been making ready for that as a batting group.
“We’ve obviously rested a few players but that’s not because we’re taking Sri Lanka lightly. But that World Cup is our next big focus, and you don’t always get the opportunity to be able to try new players. We saw this, at the back end of a pretty busy summer, as a chance to do that.”
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket