It’s an honour to lead the England team into another World Cup.
World Cups are always special events to be involved in as a player and create lasting memories. There’s nothing that quite compares to having all the best teams in the world competing to win that trophy and you always feel honoured to be a part of it.
We’ve got a lovely mix of experience and youth, with players who’ve been there and done it before, but we’ve also got a few players who are taking part in a World Cup for the first time which is really exciting. My message to them is to enjoy each moment and embrace the challenge.
I’m really excited by the squad we have selected for the tournament in the UAE. We’ve got a lot of bases covered and over the last year, everyone in the squad has stepped up at some point to put in brilliant performances to help the team win games of cricket. We want to make great memories both on and off the pitch and everyone is excited for the month ahead.
I am writing this from our training camp in Abu Dhabi prior to the start of the tournament which will hopefully stand us in good stead. It’s been a great set up out here that has allowed us to get used to the heat and conditions we will face. It’s all starting to feel real now as we get closer to our opening match against Bangladesh on October 5.
We have been building towards this World Cup over the last 18 months or so and have built a lot of confidence from the way we’ve been playing. We want to continue to play the sort of cricket we have been playing and bring our best in the big moments. Everyone in the squad will have a big role to play.
There hasn’t been a lot of women’s’ cricket in the UAE to date so the sample size for Women’s T20 matches in the region is small. We know the stadiums have quality facilities. We’ve been preparing for Bangladesh for a long time, getting players ready for those conditions, but despite the shift to the UAE I don’t think our plans change too much.
We are clear about how we want to do things and how we want to play. We have prepared the best we can and feel in a great spot. It’s important not to change how we play because it’s the World Cup with added pressure and added external expectation to be successful. It’s about doing the best we can and approaching it with a one game at a time mentality.
T20 can be the most volatile and unpredictable of the formats so we need to get our mindset right, don’t change things too much because it’s a World Cup and we’ll see how we go.
We know there are top quality sides who will all offer different challenges, and we are looking forward to getting started and making some memories. — Courtesy International Cricket Council
(Heather Knight is the captain of England women’s cricket team. The ICC 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup will run from October 3 to October 20 in the UAE)