England captain says line has been drawn under "blackface" challenge ahead of Bangladesh problem
Heather Knight, England's captain, says that the problem of leading her team into the Women's T20 World Cup has her whole emphasis, and insists that" the line has already been drawn" on the disciplinary actions taken against her for a traditional "blackface" photograph that appeared on social media lately.
Knight, 33, was last week reprimanded and given a suspended £1000 great by the Cricket Discipline Commission, after a affecting fancy-dress photo surfaced on Facebook, dating up to a group in 2012, when she was 21. While it was accepted by the Cricket Regulator that there was" no racist intent in her conduct", Knight said in a statement that she was" truly sorry" and had "long regretted it".
Then, speaking on the day of England's T20 World Cup opening, against Bangladesh in Sharjah on Saturday, Knight turned the concentrate firmly to the task at hand for her team, as they seek to improve on their semi-final finish at the last event in South Africa two years ago, and get their first ICC world title since 2017.
" It was obviously something that has been ongoing the last couple of months and it is something, as far as I am concerned, that has been addressed, and something that was a long time ago, so it has n't been in my mind at all", Knight said.
" The line has already been drawn, in my opinion, so I am truly excited, evidently, for what is to come. We have got very friendly group, there is no doubt about that, but yeah, I'm very glad to get breaking with the cricket".
England came through an unbroken home summers, winning 13 out of 14 games against New Zealand and Pakistan, with just a disaster at Taunton denying them a fresh blow. In addition to Bangladesh, they will enjoy against Scotland, West Indies and South Africa in the World Cup class level, with their two likeliest competitors for the name, Australia and India, awaiting them in the other half of the draw.
" Australia are going to be specials, for positive", Knight said of the defending leaders, who have won six of the last seven productions of the T20 World Cup, dating up to 2010. " Clearly, their success in this function has been great, but we feel in a really good position. We've been playing some amazing cricket, and while the primary goal is to get out of the party stages, we're very confident in what we bring. We believe we can beat everyone on our best day".
Many of England's summers was spent honing a part that could compete in spinning circumstances, with Bangladesh having been the World Cup's unique host country. Due to security concerns, the event has since been moved to the UAE, but Knight is assured that England's roll team, led by the ICC's No. 1, will prevail. 1-ranked bowler in white-ball cricket, Sophie Ecclestone- will grow at a tournament that, to assess by the tournament's opening fixtures, now appears to favour delayed bowling.
" We feel very prepared for what we've got to come, and now it's just about executing it and being really smart about how we do things in-game", Knight said. " We've obviously got the quality spin attack. It's been our big strength, particularly through those middle overs, how we really squeeze teams and try and rush them in that middle period".
England skipped Lauren Filer's pace for this competition, relying solely on Lauren Bell, who is joined by three seam-bowling all-stars: Nat Sciver-Brunt, Freya Kemp, and Dani Gibson. Charlie Dean and Sarah Glenn also offer batting depth as spinning allrounders, meaning that England- on paper, at least- have an enviably versatile squad.
" We've got really good options, which is the nice thing", Knight said. " The depth that we've got allows us to play based on the conditions that we face, and the team that we're playing against.
Picking the team is not going to be easy, but we're fairly prepared for the minor adjustments that we might need to make to maximize the conditions and teams we're playing against.
" There are going to be times where we are going to have to graft a little bit, the boundaries are big and there might be times when we get on slow wickets where we are going to have to adapt to what is in front of us and be really smart with how we go about things".
Both Kemp and Sciver-Brunt were managed back to bowling fitness during the summer, after coming through back and knee issues respectively. But Knight was adamant that each was in the right place to deliver a full all-round role for the cause.
Because of their role, she said," the allrounders are the fittest in the team." " Freya, in particular, she's super impressive with how she's come back from that ]second ] stress fracture, and the work that she's put in to be in a place to perform, it's been brilliant".
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