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ICC WOMEN'S WORLD T20

November 10, 2018

Heather Knight

Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

Q. You've played a lot of international cricket. How disappointed are you that this could end up being pot luck in a major tournament like the World T20?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Yeah, obviously today is very frustrating. It's the wettest outfit I think I've ever seen in my career, and I was chatting to Danni Hazell back there, and we were saying she's played for 10 years and she's only ever missed, I think this will be her second full day that's been wiped out. So yeah, we're hopeful we can get some cricket in. The forecast obviously isn't ideal.

I think at some point I think we'll get some cricket in, whether it's a five-over smash, whatever it might be, we're going to have to be ready. There's obviously nothing we can do about the weather above, we're just going to have to deal with it when it comes.

Q. With the forecast as it is, do you think consideration should be given to moving the games to another country?
HEATHER KNIGHT: If it meant we got the games in, then potentially, yeah. It hasn't obviously stopped raining since we've arrived. We're hopeful that it will stop raining, but if that's an option, it's up to the ICC to decide, obviously, not me.

Q. What a setback to the England plans. Obviously you didn't just come here to compete, you came here to win. How much of a setback is the washout today?
HEATHER KNIGHT: I think it's frustrating, but I don't think it's too much of a setback. It is what it is. We'll obviously split the points with Sri Lanka and we're hopeful we can get a game with Bangladesh on Monday. We're obviously desperate to get our tournament going, but today it's obviously not to be. We've just got to be ready when it comes.

The girls have prepared brilliantly, so obviously the potential that we're not going to train much or be prepared as well as we would have liked shouldn't matter too much. Our preparation before obviously coming to St. Lucia has been great, so we've just got to trust in that, and hopefully we can get out there and play some cricket.

Q. There's an indoor auditorium just across the way from the Darren Sammy. Any thoughts of maybe going indoor just to keep the team active?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Well, there wasn't any indoor facilities for us yesterday, so we went over to train. I've obviously done the 100-metre dash across the pitch, so I've done my fitness work for the day. And yeah, we're probably going to have to be slightly inventive, I guess, with keeping the girls going. I'm not sure -- cricket as a sport is quite hard to play without facilities. But yeah, I'm sure we'll be put through our paces in the gym later, and we've just got to stay as fresh as we can mentally as well as physically.

Q. And your 100-metre dash was in 13.2, barefoot.
HEATHER KNIGHT: Thank you very much, yeah.

Q. You strongly hinted yesterday that Linsey Smith would be making her England debut today. How disappointed is she?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Well, we're all disappointed. We came here to play cricket. I don't think Linsey is particularly disappointed compared to the others. Obviously you want to get involved, you want to get started in the tournament and settled as quickly as you can.

But it is what it is. It's raining, and unfortunately we're fair-weather cricketers and it's a fair-weather sport, so we can't get out there.

Q. There's a strong possibility that the match against Bangladesh, the points may also be shared. How as a team do you then deal with the pressure going into those crucial games against South Africa and the West Indies?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Well, I think it's tournament cricket, it's such a short, sharp tournament, every game is important. You can't afford to slip up for a short spell in T20 cricket or that's going to lose you the game. It's tournament cricket. We've got to beat every team to obviously get to where we want to be in those semifinals in Antigua. I don't think it'll change too much. Every game in this tournament is a must-win, and if it happens that we're obviously going into those final games, I think we'll just be glad to get out there and play some cricket, and the fact that we must win is just by the bye.

Q. Did you say anything to the team today when you discovered it was going to be rained off, or are you going to say anything to them later in terms of trying to keep morale up or anything like that?
HEATHER KNIGHT: No, I think we're all pretty savvy in terms of obviously knowing it's wet and we're going to have to be ready. We knew that yesterday when we obviously game to the ground and saw how wet it was. We knew there was the potential that we might not play at all or it would be a shortened game, so we've prepared for the fact that we need to be ready whenever, but no, I haven't had a chance to chat to the girls. Obviously I was whisked straight over here to talk to you guys.

Q. On your off days, on the days when you're not playing, how much attention will you be paying to the other matches to see what the other teams are doing?
HEATHER KNIGHT: Yeah, I watched yesterday, watched all three of the games on and off. Obviously keen on the West Indies and Bangladesh, being in our group. I think it will be quite an individual thing for the girls. A lot of them are cricket badgers, but I think a few of the girls will just kind of want to switch off and have a chance to get away from cricket a little bit and take the pressure off and just be ready when we've got our games.

Q. Based on what you saw from yesterday's matches, any teams that you're now keeping an eye on in terms of how they're progressing?
HEATHER KNIGHT: No, not too much. We've obviously got one eye on the other group, and obviously the game that took place that's in our group, as well, we had a keen eye because we're obviously going to have to play them. But the thing that worked for us so well in 2017 was focusing on ourselves every game at a time and facing the next team we were going to come up against, and that's all we can do.

We obviously look at the other teams, and I think it was a great start to the tournament yesterday obviously with India's performance, and Harmanpreet has created a buzz around the tournament, which I think is obviously great for the game and the tournament itself. Yeah, hopefully the rain here won't dampen spirits too much.

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