The veteran 34-year-old batting all-rounder and skipper Heather Knight made her international debut on 1st March 2010 in the 5th ODI against India at Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai.
Over the years, she has established herself as one of the most prolific run scorers and a reliable batter in the middle order for England. She has scored over 4,000 runs in the ODI format (4,005 runs) at a strike rate of 72.62 and an impressive average of 35.44 in 140 innings with the bat for her side in the format.
She completed the 4,000 runs landmark in the 1st ODI of the 8th edition of the Women’s Ashes. She was 34 runs short of the milestone, before the start of the game and completed the landmark on the first ball of the 16th over of the innings bowled by Ashleigh Gardner.
She attempted a reverse sweep, and the ball lobbed off her glove or the top edge and went over the head of the Australian wicketkeeper and skipper Alyssa Healy and the batter took the opportunity to get to the non-striker’s end. She became only the 5th England player to achieve the landmark after Charlotte Edwards, Tammy Beaumont, Claire Taylor, and Sarah Taylor, in Women’s ODIs. She scored 39 off 48 balls, with Gardner provided the breakthrough.
She completed 1,000 runs in the ODI format on 15th February 2015 in the 3rd ODI against New Zealand, en route to her impressive innings of 79 (119 balls) at the Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui. She completed 2,000 runs in the format on 29th October 2017 in the 3rd ODI against Australia when she scored an unbeaten half-century 88* (80 balls) at the International Sports Stadium, Coffs Harbour, and completed 3,000 runs in the format on 3rd July 2021 in the 3rd ODI against India when she scored 46 (71 balls) at County Ground, New Road, Worcester.
Her tally of runs in the format includes 26 half-centuries and a couple of centuries for her side so far. Her best performance with the bat for her side in the format came on 27th June 2017 against Pakistan in the 5th match of the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2017 when she scored a brilliant century (106 off 109 balls) at Grace Road, Leicester.
She was appointed as the full-time all-format skipper for England on 5th June 2016, taking over the leadership baton from Charlotte Edwards, post her international retirement. The visitors, England were eventually bundled out for 204 with 41 balls to spare in the 1st ODI at the North Sydney Oval, Sydney in the ongoing multi-format Women’s Ashes.
Loves all things female cricket
