England skipper Heather Knight "desperate" to win Test clash as they gear up to face India
Dec 13, 2023
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 13 : England's women's team skipper Heather Knight is eager to spoil counterpart Harmanpreet Kaur's plans to win the one-off Test clash between the two sides.
England played a four-match Test series against Australia in the multi-format Ashes series. They lost three and managed to draw one earlier this year. Their winless run in red-ball cricket dates back to January 2014, when they stood victorious over arch-rival Australia with a 7-wicket victory.
Heather expressed the desire to end their winless run before returning home.
"I am desperate to win a Test match. It feels like it's been a while since we've done that as an England side. It'll be a great finish if we end with a win in the Test. It was so pleasing- the T20 series win. With the T20 World Cup coming up, it feels like we're in a really good place. It gave our youngsters some time in conditions they're not otherwise too used to. Playing cricket out here in the heat and humidity is not easy. We're going to have to play really well. It'll be satisfying to have a good four days and then wind up with a win and head home for Christmas," Heather said on the eve of the clash in the pre-match press conference.
The clash against India on Thursday will mark the milestone of 100 Tests for the England team, but the skipper admitted that she was not aware of the record.
"I had no idea, actually. That is quite a cool stat. I think playing a Test match in India is (in the) bucket list for any cricketer and it's really cool that we get the opportunity to do that," Heather stated.
Knight also went on to state that there would be some anxiety in the camp and said, "It is a really quick turnaround and we do not play Test cricket very often. Naturally, there's bound to be more anxiety and worry and stress around the group just because it's purely something we don't play very often."
India squad for one-off Test: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Shubha Satheesh, Harleen Deol, Saika Ishaque, Renuka Thakur, Titas Sadhu, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar.
England: Heather Knight (c), Amy Jones (wk), Bess Heath (wk), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt, Tammy Beaumont, Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey, Sophie Ecclestone, Emma Lamb, Charlie Dean, Lauren Bell, Kate Cross, Kirstie Gordon, Lauren Filer.
