Women's WT20 2018: Heather Knight praises inexperienced members of the side despite England's loss in the final

Australia won the final by eight wickets and clinched the ICC Women's World T20 Trophy.

Australia were magnificent on the night of the final | Getty

Despite the disappointing loss against Australia on the big night, skipper Heather Knight has praised the inexperienced members of the side to have stood out with respectworthy performances throughout the competition and help England reach their fourth final of the ICC Women's WT20.

Batting first England succumbed to just 105 all out in 19.4 overs, with only Danielle Wyatt (43) fighting hard against the rampaging Aussie bowlers. Before Ashleigh Gardner (33) and Meg Lanning (28) herself led the way and Australia finished off the proceedings comfortably, in only 15.1 overs.  

"We came in a lot of inexperience and some of the girls that have come in stepped up brilliantly. Sophie Ecclestone, she's been around a year, what a spell from her tonight. She gave us a chance - well, not a chance, but she bowled brilliantly, I thought," Knight was quoted saying afterwards, "Kirstie Gordon has been a real find and Sophia Dunkley as well. It's been a great experience for those girls, it'll make them better players in the future."

"It was a much better pitch than the semi-final - it skidded on a lot more. Danni Wyatt [43 from 37 balls] started brilliantly, played with freedom which gave us a bit of momentum, but we kept losing wickets at key times and weren't able to post a total that was competitive," she added.

Knight also offered words of appreciation over the opponent and congratulated Meg Lanning's Australia for a fantastic title win.

"Congratulations to them, it was not to be," she said, "It's quite raw at the moment, we'll take time to reflect and work out where we go forward as a team, because we've got a massive year next year, with an Ashes series to look forward to. So we'll reassess and move on."

"We wanted to put runs on the board, we knew there'd be a bit of dew and we thought it would skid on a lot more. We didn't adapt to conditions as well as we could, in terms of areas we hit, and wickets we lost, but I'm proud of the girls for reaching another world final," Knight signed off.

(Inputs from Cricbuzz)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 25 Nov, 2018

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