‘Captain no more, but England need Knight more than ever’

The image of Heather Knight standing in the Canberra rain as the Ashes slipped from England’s grasp is one that is hard to forget.

With her bat dropped to the floor and a slump of the shoulders, England’s long-serving captain looked like she had been defeated.

But seven months and a hamstring injury on from that 16-0 defeat – one that led to her sacking as captain after more than eight years – Knight produced a World Cup innings of grit and determination to prove to her opponents, the media and maybe even herself, that it’ll take a lot more than that to keep her down for long.

England somehow found themselves 78-5 in pursuit of 179 to beat Bangladesh, ranked seventh in the world, and Knight was in familiar territory despite playing her first one-day international since January.

“They cannot do it under pressure” is the narrative that has been following England since the dismal T20 World Cup group-stage defeat by West Indies this time last year.

Knight had 15 from her first 50 balls, then made 64 from her next 61.

Released from the shackles of captaincy, a weight lifted from those once-slumped shoulders. Completely calm among the chaos, Knight showed why England need her more than ever.

There was luck and controversy, no doubt. On nought, Knight was given out caught behind on the field but the third umpire overturned it, saying there “inconclusive” evidence there was no bat.

She then successfully reviewed an lbw, but on 13 the turning point came as the third umpire intervened once more to rule that Shorna Akter had grounded the ball while taking a catch at extra cover. Again the third umpire said there was “inconclusive” evidence the “catch had been taken fairly”.

“The catch, I thought it was out on first look,” Knight, who walked towards the boundary rope, told BBC Sport.

“But I probably felt like I deserved a little bit of luck after this year.

Make no mistake, however, England got away with one.

Their spinners were superb again – claiming 9-116 in 37.4 overs – but familiar frailties emerged with the bat and the sight of coach Charlotte Edwards laughing and celebrating Knight’s third reprieve with a double fist pump in the changing room was a curious one.

Had England lost, it is likely we would have seen quite a few more replays of it, particularly considering the gulf between these two teams and the sticky situation that her side were in.

England’s batting weakness against spin has been well documented, but in ODIs they had started to make promising progress since the Alana King-dominated Ashes.

They are averaging a fraction under 35 per wicket against spin in the format this year, an improvement from 31.19 in 2024 and 25.59 the year before.

Other important factors include that this particular game saw the most deliveries of spin bowled in a Women’s World Cup match, and the pitch offered the most turn of any game in the tournament so far. Batting was difficult, but it is a 50-over World Cup in India – it was always going to be tough, and England will need to adapt quickly.

Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont were exposed by Marufa’s swing, both trapped lbw playing across the line. Nat Sciver-Brunt miscued a full toss, Sophia Dunkley got a marginal lbw decision but was trapped on the crease and Emma Lamb – batting outside of the top three for the first time in her professional 50-over career – chipped to mid-on.

But again Knight led the way, putting her favoured sweeps away as she scratched around to begin with, but with confidence came a little more flair, a use of the feet and the ball started to find the middle of the bat.

“We’ll learn a lot from the experience. It was really tough conditions out there and they bowled brilliantly,” Knight said.

“I haven’t had a huge amount of time in the middle with the injury, so I am just finding my feet.

“But I know playing spin is a real strength of mine, I know I’ve got different options based on the conditions, and for me it was about being really precise on what ball I was going to attack and which I would defend.

“When I did get into that rhythm, I was just really precise with my footwork and had a really clear gameplan, trying to sweep on line and use my feet to different bowlers to hit hard down the ground.”

This time, England did overcome the pressure, with Knight’s luck and heroics to thank.