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ICC WOMEN'S WORLD T20

November 23, 2018

Heather Knight

North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda

Q. Heather, tomorrow will be your second global tournament final in 15 months. How do the two compare?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Good question. You might ask me afterwards. Hopefully tomorrow's final is not quite as tight as it was the last one. But, yeah, what a brilliant year, 18 months, it's been for the team to make another global final.

It's a real achievement, I think, especially the experience, I guess, we've brought to this tournament, and the girls are massively excited. It's probably not been the smoothest ride to get to the final, but the main thing is we're here and we've got another opportunity to have a shot at winning a global trophy again and what an achievement it would be, how special it would be, if we could be double white-ball champions.

Q. Are your feelings similar to the feelings you experienced 15 months ago, just right ahead of the final?
HEATHER KNIGHT: To be honest, I haven't had too much time to think about it. Last night I finished quite late, didn't get back to the hotel until half past 12:00. I was probably thinking cricket and dreaming cricket most of the night. Didn't have much chance to get to sleep until quite late. Looking back, I guess it will be the same sort of excitement, the same nerves, but also there's the fact we know we've been through that. We won that final last year, and that gives us real confidence.

Obviously, a completely different format, different opponent leading into the final, and I think it's going to be a great game. Hopefully, the girls can show the fight and resilience that we've shown throughout this competition and put in a real performance.

Q. We've just been hearing from Meg Lanning about the kind of distinctiveness of the England-Australia rivalry. Would you go along with that? Is there something particularly potent about facing Australia in a final?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Yeah, I think you can't really ignore that it's the old enemy, can you? It's probably the two best teams in the world historically over the last few years, and we've had some amazing games of cricket recently. We had the Ashes series we drew out in Australia and a really good sort of T20 series out there for us, where we won 2-1, and the game to finish off the series was a real thriller. Obviously, that chase that we did in Canberra. So all history suggests it's going to be a really good game, really tight game.

We're going to have to be at the top of our game. Australians look really strong. They've played some really great cricket this tournament. It's going to be another brilliant day for women's cricket, and hopefully we've got some of the crowds similar to what's been in the semifinals yesterday.

Q. Nine years ago, England did the double in 2009. What would it mean to you as a skipper to be able to be a dual world champion and repeat what England did in 2009?
HEATHER KNIGHT: It would be really special. We look back at 2009, and that's a really sort of quality team in the history of women's cricket, and we spoke about that team, some of the girls were obviously involved in that, and we talked about emulating them, about the opportunity to do that. It doesn't come around very often, and I guess as a team it's our chance to really cement ourselves in history as a brilliant white ball format team.

So, yeah, it's a great opportunity for us. But tomorrow we've got folks on all about the game -- how we perform, how we carry ourselves, how we continue the good things that we've done so far in this competition. If you sort of look after the processes, you're hopeful, obviously, that you put yourself in the best place to put in a good performance and get that result. So, yeah, it would be very special if we were able to achieve that.

Q. What's the support been like from home? Did you wake up this morning with a slough of text messages from people that watched the game, whether it be other teammates or in Sri Lanka, perhaps?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Yeah, lots of people stayed up to watch, which was really nice. I just sort of got people just waking up as I went to bed last night as I was struggling to get to sleep. But the support from back home has been phenomenal. Obviously, you've seen the supporters out here, the friends and family, and they've really been a boost for us actually during the game when you sort of look over and see them dancing to the very catchy Watch This song has been brilliant and a real source of inspiration for us. And hopefully people will switch on again Saturday night back home, and hopefully we'll put in a really good performance for them.

Q. I'm sure you're not going to give me your team, but is there consideration for playing the four front line strikers, in addition to yourself, given what we saw last night?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Look, I guess we'll consider it. The pitch is quite similar. The groundsman has told me it might not turn as much as it did last night, but we'll have to wait and see. It does look very dry, and we expect quite similar conditions to what we had last night.

Q. Did you know you were on a hat trick yesterday?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Yes, I was aware that I was on a hat trick, but best decision for the team was for Anya to bowl that over to the next end. Obviously, next time I come up to bowl, I'll actually be on a hat trick.

Q. In men's cricket, men's Twenty20 league cricket, there's a lot of emphasis on analytics. Has that come into the women's game yet?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Sorry, I didn't catch that

Q. Analytics.
HEATHER KNIGHT: Analytics, yeah. T20 cricket is the most planned game. It's probably the most preparation that I've been in as captain and as bowlers in terms of having quite a clear framework of how you get about things. You obviously adjust and flex with that during the game, but the coaches and myself and all the bowlers do a lot of work into looking at previous areas that batters score, things like that, and stats. Our analyst Chris Sykes has been outstanding. He put together a really good document leading into the tournament on certain statistics that might potentially help us out here.

So I think T20 is probably the most -- become the most analytical game in the way it's gone around the world. It's quite interesting, actually, to look at some trends and try to incorporate that into your tactics on the pitch.

Q. So you say no space for sentiment at all in today's T20 game?
HEATHER KNIGHT: It's sport. Of course there's place for sentiment. At the end of the day, you can break a game down into much -- as much as you can into analytics and statistics, but it's all about the players playing out there, the characters, the narratives that you get from sport and from cricket, and this tournament's been no different. That's what it's about. It's about using the tools you've got at your disposal to try and write those stories and try and be successful.

Q. Yesterday how much of a factor was dew in the chase and how much might that affect your decision should you win the toss tomorrow?
HEATHER KNIGHT: It was actually quite dewy when we were fielding as well. It looks dewy for both teams out there. I don't think it will make too much of a difference, to be honest.

Q. Do you think you need to do anything different tomorrow in terms of the way you played yesterday compared to the way you're going to approach tomorrow, or is it just a question of taking that same discipline through into tomorrow's game?
HEATHER KNIGHT: We obviously had very clear plans for the Indian bowlers, and the Australian team will throw slightly different tactics and different challenges for us. So for us, it's about adapting to that again. We know potentially how the wicket is going to play.

For me, I think the most pleasing thing, the two games we've had in this tournament that have been must win, do or die games, we've put in outstanding performances. We've been really clinical. Really sort of calm under pressure. Just done it in a sort of no nonsense way and gotten the job done. And that's what tomorrow is about.

We've shown some brilliant heart and brilliant fight this tournament, and that's going to stand us in good stead. It might not win us the game tomorrow, but it gives us a really good shot. There's always things you can improve, and even on yesterday, what was a very good performance. But, yeah, we're going to have to put in a strong performance and have all four facets of the game come together for us to win that final.

Q. How satisfying was it yesterday adapting so much away from your natural game a little bit? But then would you prefer a pitch which allows you to express that natural game, or is it satisfying to get a win where you adapt and then come out with the win?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Yeah, I guess it was satisfying. I think the conditions were a hell of a lot like they are in India than they are in English summer. So to beat an Indian side with an old spinner attack was really pleasing. The way our spinners bowled, I think was outstanding. They out bowled the Indian spinners.

Look, it was a slow wicket. It was hard work. It may not have been the most interesting game to watch. Sometimes the low-scoring thrillers can be, but it was quite a tricky wicket for batters. But that's what we're going to face tomorrow. I don't think it's going to change too much. And as a player, you played, as a batter to score runs and as a bowler to take wickets. Regardless of the conditions, you've got to find a way to do that.

Q. Alyssa Healy has been the dominant player for Australia this tournament. Are you going to spend a bit of extra time coming up with plans for her?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Yeah, she's played really well. She's probably been the one batter that's been consistent throughout the tournament. Of course, we'll look at her. We'll look at all of their players. They've got a very strong batting lineup, a very deep batting lineup. We're going to have to have clear plans in place to obviously reflect the conditions that we're going to face as well.

Q. Heather, the ICC today announced that they're going to change the name of the ICC Women's World T20 to the ICC Women's T20 World Cup. You talked about the inconsistency in naming and how it's always felt like a World Cup to you. Does that move make sense to you?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Yeah, I guess so. It feels like any 50-over World Cup that we've played in, and that's what you want to be successful in as a player. You want to win World Cups and Ashes series. So good move, I think, to do that.

Q. Finally, obviously, yesterday a massive day for the England team, but today even bigger because it's Mark Robinson's birthday. Have you got a message for Robbo and how he'll be celebrating his 51st birthday, I think?
HEATHER KNIGHT: He's not going to like you for mentioning his age. He's been letting everyone know it's his birthday. I actually didn't say happy birthday at breakfast straight away, so I think I've got a bit of a black mark in the book. When we get back from training, we're going to arrange a cake for him and a little get together and a sing song. I guess the ideal birthday present will be that win tomorrow night.

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