"We're adapting to conditions as well as we can": Heather Knight

Prior to the World T20, England captain Heather Knight addressed the media at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. England are placed in Group A along with Bangladesh, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and defending champions the Windies while three-times champions Australia are placed along with India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland in Group B.



"To be honest, it's been quite a long buildup, so it's really nice to get really close to getting out there and playing the first games. Obviously, we're not playing our group games in Guyana, but nice to be out here and see a different part of the world, a slightly different country to what we come to usually, and obviously we've got one more warm-up game against India to kind of fine-tune the team and our plans and obviously get to St. Lucia and see what we've got there and get cracking with the competition," Knight said after their first practice match was abandoned due to rain.



"Probably just working out what gets scores very quickly and being able to adapt. Twenty20 is such a fast-paced game, and sort of a bad 10, 15 minutes can lose you a game. As a team, as a bowling unit, as a batting unit, being sure or making sure we're adapting to conditions as well as we can," she further added while talking about their next warm-up against India on.



England has few new players in their squad this year. The captain is hopeful about their game. "Two of the left-arm spinners, in particular, have settled in brilliantly. Linsey Smith and Kirstie Gordon have played in more games and have really held their own on the international stage."



Sarah Taylor has not been a part of this mega even due to her anxiety issue. In her absence, Amy Jones will do the glove work behind the stumps. Knight was all praising about her calibre. "Amy is a much better player than she was about a year ago. In terms of her game, her technical game, she's always been an outstanding keeper, in terms of the batting. She's really believed in her ability, I think, she's always had that ability, but she really backs herself now, and I'm really excited for her now to see how she goes this tournament."



Though pace spearhead Katherine Brunt has been suffering from an injury, Heather is quite hopeful about her playing. "We knew to bring her out here she wasn't fully fit yet, but we're hopeful that as she progresses, she can make it into the team. Katherine Brunt at 70 per cent in our team makes us a better team. It's a sort of day-by-day thing with her, how she reacts to amounts of training, but her progress has been brilliant. We're really hoping that she's able to play a part in the competition."



"We've gone with new players, and I think it's a credit to the work that's done, players performing and that it means you're going to get a chance internationally, and I think it's a great thing for us as a squad, trying to keep pushing us forward. Obviously, competition for places means players have to be on their game and have to keep moving forward and getting better, which is a great thing to have as a squad, and hopefully, it'll keep pushing us forward," Knight shared while talking about the team.



Big Bash League has changed the way of playing the T20 game. "It's propelled the game forward loads. Obviously, I've played in both competitions, and I think they're brilliant. I think it's given players from different countries, some of the South Africans that have played in the Big Bash, you've really seen them sort of come on, and it's just improved or increased sort of the amount of cricket people are playing. The internationals are playing all year-round, and you've seen the sort of innovations that are coming. Batters are a lot more fearless now. There's a lot more high scoring in general, and yeah, I think it's helped propel the game forward quite a lot."



Video from the Press Conference:



https://twitter.com/WomensCricZone/status/1059676063771574272