Ashes setback gave England the opportunity to reassess: Knight 

England captain Heather Knight believes that their drubbing at the hands of Meg Lanning’s Australia during the multi-format Ashes last summer gave them the opportunity to reassess and could prove a blessing in disguise ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup starting February 21.

England were outplayed in all departments with the sole win coming in the third T20I. Few hung up their boots after that while a young bunch replaced them with Lisa Keightley taking over the reins at the helm marking the mega event as her first major tournament as head coach.

“We learned a hell of a lot from what was a tough summer,” said Knight, speaking at the captains’ media day at Taronga Zoo in Sydney on Monday (February 17). “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.”

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“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,” she added.

Keightley, who has represented Australia at the international level, also became the first female to take up the role, and Knight believes that her experience of playing and coaching in Australia would serve them better. “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,” said Knight.

England won the inaugural ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2009 with their bid for a second title starting in Perth against South Africa on Sunday (February 23), while 2016 champions West Indies also occupy Group B. Australia have been avoided in the group stage but if Knight’s team have any ambition of lifting the trophy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 8 March, they may have to prepare to match-up with and beat their old foe.

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Prevail in Melbourne and they would complete the limited-overs World Cup double having won the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2017 on home soil. “We had a great experience in 2017, which was unique in terms of expectation,” she said. “There’s a lot of momentum in this competition, similar to then. You want to be tested at a World Cup, finding ways to improve and learn and the recent tri-series was brilliant for that – we’re now just ready to get going,” concluded Knight.