Heather Knight looks back on winning start as England Women captain
Heather looks back on winning start as captain
Heather Knight led England Women to a clean sweep in ODI and T20I series against Pakistan Women © Getty Images[/caption] New England Women captain Heather Knight got off to the perfect sweep. Her side completed a clean sweep in the One-Day International (ODI) and the T20 International (T20I) series against Pakistan Women. Knight in her first match as captain, scored an unbeaten fifty and also picked up five wickets with ball in hand. Knight also praised her opening duo of Tammy Beaumont and Lauren Winfield, who were in excellent form throughout the tour. Beaumont in fact struck back-to-back centuries in the ODI series against Pakistan Women. Knight also believes that she has learnt a lot from watching former skipper Charlotte Edwards lead the team. READ: Heather Knight's fairytale beginning as England Women captain “Obviously, Lot [Edwards] was captain throughout my England career and I think the main thing I took from her captaincy is how she looked after her game and led from the front in scoring runs, as well as her passion for the game - her passion never wavered,” Knight said, according to skysports.com. “She was always the first one in the nets and driving the team forward that way. There are loads of things I'll take from Lot and I can still get advice from her now, even though now she is on the other side in the commentary box. Whoever took over from Lot, it was always going to be difficult to follow her because she has been so successful and led the team for 10 years. It felt like quite a fresh start and it gave me a chance to stamp my mark.” READ: Heather Knight creates world record on captaincy debut “The changes that were made meant there was always going to be pressure on the team but I think after the first game, we got a good win in and it was uphill from there. I'll try and do the job my way, in the best way I can. I'm not going to try and be someone I'm not and I'm sure the girls wouldn't want me to do that either.” Knight describes her first match as England skipper. “It was obviously on the reserve day so there was a lot of waiting around before I could lead the team out for the first time. It was a perfect start [taking 5-26 and scoring 50no] and nice for the girls to get off with a win. From 30-2, chasing what I guess was a modest total, it could have been completely different,” said the all-rounder. “We were probably under the most pressure going into that game with questions over the batting line-up and who was going to score the runs. It was nice to get us over the line with the bat and pick up a few wickets as well, it took the pressure off me quite early and let me relax into the role,” she added. READ: Why ENGW dominated over PAKW in every single game! Knight also believes the Beaumont and Winfield have been outstanding. “They've been outstanding. That's probably the biggest positive we'll take, Tammy and Lauren's opening partnership. It's great to see them scoring runs, they've worked really hard leading up to the series having not shown their talent consistently on the international stage previously.” “They're both really natural strikers of the ball and it's been about getting to go out and do that at the top of the order and have the belief that they belong at international level. It's great to see them being greedy as well when they're in that great form, they never get bored of scoring runs.” READ: Heather Knight named England Women captain “As a batting line-up, they've set us up really well in these series. The partnership at Worcester, in particular, was outstanding and it let the rest of the batters come in, let loose and obviously get that highest ODI total, which was really pleasing. We've played really good cricket and been really skilful in playing the type of entertaining cricket that people want to come and watch."