Heather Knight previews England's T20 World Cup opener against Bangladesh
04/10/2024
Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah,
04/10/2024
Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah,
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SportsTranscript
00:00Afternoon everyone and welcome to this pre-match press conference with England captain Heather Knight
00:04Just a reminder, please for everyone to ensure that their microphones are
00:09Unmute and all the devices are in mute or either way either mute or vibrate and we'll get started
00:18Heather how do you feel like the team's preparation has gone for this World Cup?
00:22I think we're chomping at the bit to get going. We've obviously been here for a long time with our training camp in Abu Dhabi
00:28Felt like we've we've built into obviously the first game really well
00:31a little bit rusty in that first warm-up game and then a really
00:35Polished performance and really felt like I saw our best in the last one. So yeah super ready
00:41Obviously, it's a bit weird kind of waiting around to get going. You just want to get yourself into the tournament when you're here
00:46I'm sure they'll there'll be a lot of excitement and a lot of nerves flying around tomorrow
00:50But yeah excited to toss you kick it off against Bangladesh at six tomorrow
00:54I know charge is a little bit of an unknown for a few teams. Did you learn much out of watching yesterday's games?
01:00Yeah, I watched it all
01:02Actually, the the pitch was was better than I thought actually the there's a little bit
01:07A couple that didn't bounce as much but actually the bounce overall it looked pretty decent
01:11I think just the outfield and the boundaries obviously look big and it it looks quite hard to to hit boundaries
01:17But it's certainly something we've prepared for
01:20It was conditions we expected in Bangladesh where it's hard to hit boundaries
01:24you have to hit the ball hard into space and and be really smart around you run in between the wickets and and try and
01:29Maximize that so yeah, I felt like watching yesterday learned a lot. There wasn't any Jew
01:33that's going to be a key talking point as the tournament goes on I think when that arrives and
01:39What the G point is and conversations like that. Everyone's trying to work out the best weather
01:44Weather skills
01:46But yeah, it's it's a World Cup
01:48I think that's going to be
01:49Won by the team that adapts the conditions the best and I feel like the skills that we have in the team
01:55Are in a really good place to adapt to whatever conditions we face
01:57So you'll have to see how things change if they change throughout the comp. Have you settled on a team?
02:04Yeah. Yeah, we're pretty close. We haven't announced it yet
02:07But yeah, we're pretty close to
02:09To the team we want we're gonna have a little look at the game tomorrow and then make a final call after that
02:14I think it was the split was like 22 we gets to spin versus nine to pace
02:18Does that tempt you to play your four spinners?
02:22Certainly an option. I think what Lindsay brings is
02:25Accuracy and she doesn't get to bounce much on most wickets from our height
02:30So she certainly is is an option for us particularly in the way that she bowls in the power play
02:35her numbers are unbelievable how she
02:37Is really skillful and defends areas and attacks the stumps in that power play
02:42So she's certainly an option but the teams that play yesterday their spinners tend to dominate
02:46Anyway, I think and I do think pace bowling has a key role to play out here
02:50I think if you can be accurate hold your length and use your skills
02:54I think you can actually be really hard to get away on these pitches as well. So I think the fact that we have
03:00different options
03:01it means that we can be really specific with the conditions we think we're going to face or the teams are going to play against
03:05If we think there's a really good match up to a certain type of bowler
03:09The fact that we have the depth and players we feel can come in and do a real good job
03:14It means that we can flex based on that and just finally for me
03:18How do you think this team has evolved since the last Bowl Cup in South Africa?
03:21Lots, I think I think we learned a huge amount from that World Cup loss
03:25I think that was kind of the start of us
03:28I guess finding how we want to play our cricket and I think we've refined and evolved that
03:34Certainly over the last year and how we've gone about things and it's going to be really key in this World Cup
03:38It's not going to be
03:39Pitches where you go out and blast teams away and hit boundaries really freely
03:44Particularly in those middle to back end overs us that's going to be something that's a bit harder
03:47So I think our skill levels continue to improve but also how we deal with big moments
03:53How are a bit smarter in certain conditions?
03:55I think we've been tested in certain ways throughout this year, which has enabled us to evolve in that way
04:01Hopefully we can show how far we've come this tournament