Ahead of the last leg of the Ashes multi-format series England captain Heather Knight is confident that her side can put the Aussies under pressure.
In the point-based series, Australia leads 6-4. England was so near yet so far to a historic win in the Test, a win for England in the nail-biting one-off Test would’ve been enormous.
“The way we went at that chase was awesome, a real character from the girls, it’s shown that we can fight back and when we do go hard at them, then we can put them under pressure, and really create a few cracks,” said Knight.
“It gives us real confidence, particularly that second innings was very much like a one-day chase…we haven’t had a huge amount of time in the middle with the weather so that’s a really good sign,”
Knight was adjudged the Player of the Match for the Test, said she was focused on the positives of her side’s performance from the four-day game.
Undoubtedly, Knight is our ‘Player of the Match’❤️#Ashes #AUSvENG pic.twitter.com/TdVeJ6q7VZ
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 30, 2022
She emphasized the need to close the game when the opportunity presents it. She said,” It’s quite important for us to try and park it. I’ve certainly learned in my career that if you don’t park a game like that it can be quite detrimental.”
Her counterpart, Australian captain Meg Lanning said, ”We understand it’s going to be a difficult challenge against a side who has shown particularly over the last couple of weeks how good they can be.”
Australia is the number one-ranked ODI team in the ICC rankings. Lanning’s words echo her belief in her side’s one-day game.
She further said, “(But) the way we fought back and got ourselves back into the Test was fantastic. We’re really comfortable with our ODI game at the moment. We feel like it’s in a good spot. But we need to make sure we bring our best.”
With the World Cup in sight and the Series on the line, the ODI series will garner a lot of intensity from both sides.
Schedule for the CommBank Women’s Ashes ODI series:
1st ODI – 3rd February 2022, Manuka Oval, Canberra
2nd ODI – 6th February 2022, Junction Oval, Melbourne
3rd ODI – 8th February 2022, Junction Oval, Melbourne
Author of the poetry book ‘The Scent of Rhythm’, I am a passionate writer and a Sports enthusiast who writes on Cricket and plays Badminton.
