Heather Knight says chat about her future as England captain “is not for now” with two matches remaining in the Women’s Ashes.
England have lost the series after slipping 10-0 down on points, swept 3-0 by Australia in the one-day international leg of the tour before being beaten in the first two T20 internationals
Knight struck 43 not out from 19 balls in Canberra on Thursday, only for England’s pursuit of 186 for victory to be wrecked by match-ending rain one ball into the final over as Australia triumphed by six runs on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern.
England have not won the Women’s Ashes since 2014 with four Australia victories and two series draws since then.
Their objective in the ongoing contest is to avoid a whitewash, with one further T20 international in Adelaide on Saturday and the day-night Test match in Melbourne from January 30 to come.
Knight, who has been captain since 2016, said: “I guess in any leadership position you always feel the responsibility when the teams aren’t performing well.
“We haven’t performed as well as we want to, across the board. It’s certainly frustrating, but [my future] is not really a question for now.
“I’m focused on what we need to do to try and win the next game and try and turn things around. Whatever happens at the end of the tour, that’ll be a conversation for later.”
Knight: Umpires right to stop game for rain
Knight cut an angry figure when the umpires took the players from the field at Manuka Oval, seconds after she had struck Annabel Sutherland for four through backward point to trim England’s requirement to 18 from the final five balls.
But she conceded afterwards that the officials had made the correct call.
“It was the right decision by the umpires, 100 per cent,” added Knight, who had earlier seen Danni Wyatt-Hodge top score with 52 from 40 deliveries.
“I was really in the zone to try and win us that game, and obviously frustrated that we were going off, but it wasn’t at the umpires at all. It was pretty wet. Even when we were running it felt pretty slippy.
“I felt like I could get us over the line. I felt really set and had some really good boundary options on a very good cricket wicket.
“It was an awesome crowd and they deserved a finish. You could hear the frustration from the fans that that we were going off.”
‘We all care about playing for England’
England have focused on playing entertaining, attacking cricket since Jon Lewis became head coach in 2022 but they have not won an Ashes series or T20 World Cup in that time.
Knight: ‘We know that it’s not as simple as just saying we want to entertain. We also want to win at the end of the day’
Knight added: “It’s still a mantra that is really important to this team. We’re always at our best when we’re trying to take the game on and enjoy it. But obviously there’s more to cricket than that.
“We know that it’s not as simple as just saying we want to entertain. We also want to win at the end of the day.
“We haven’t done that this trip, and there’s a lot of players frustrated and hurting that we haven’t done that.
“We all really care about playing for England, and representing a team that’s really special.”
Women’s Ashes – results and fixtures
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