Heather Knight looks ahead to her first trip to Bangladesh
By Rob Barnett
England will be prepared to face the big names of the women’s game at the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, according to Heather Knight.
Charlotte Edwards’ squad flew there across yesterday and today ahead of two warm-up games next week and their tournament opener with West Indies on Monday week.
The Windies boast the likes of dangerous all-rounders Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin, but top-order batter Knight believes she and her team-mates will be ready for them.
Speaking to ecb.co.uk, Knight said: “I missed the tour to the West Indies (last autumn), so I’ve heard a lot about it from the girls. A few danger players, particularly Stafanie Taylor, Deandra Dottin, so we’ve got our plans in place for them.
“Tournament cricket is all about performing on the day so hopefully we’ll perform on the day and beat them.”
India, led by the evergreen Mithali Raj, are England’s next opponents.
“Like I said with the West Indies, they’ve got a few big-name players and a few world-class performers,” Knight added.
“Probably Twenty20 hasn’t been their forte in recent years, but we’re going to do what we do best and hopefully we’ll win against any opponent we come up against.”
The hosts and Sri Lanka, the latter who beat England at last year’s 50-over World Cup, make it four group games in seven days - all at Sylhet.
“Bangladesh are a bit of an unknown to be honest. Like (not having before been to) the country we haven’t really played much against them,” said Knight, who went to Rwanda last month.
“Look, we’ve just got to do what we do well and go out and perform on the pitch. And hopefully that’ll be good enough against whoever we play.
“Sri Lanka upset us a little bit in the 50-over World Cup so they’ve got some good players and we won’t be underestimating anyone in this competition.”