England captain Heather Knight: West Indies tour ‘like going back in time’; ‘Tight’ for Alice Capsey to make T20 World Cup | Cricket News

Heather Knight says England’s tour of the West Indies has been “like going back in time” as she stressed the importance of keeping women’s international cricket strong and revealed Alice Capsey faces a race to be fit for February’s T20 World Cup.

England have won each of the seven games they have played in the Caribbean so far, sweeping the one-day international series 3-0 before recording victories in the first four T20 internationals – with the Decision Review System unavailable for all matches.

Capsey broke her collarbone in the field during the opening ODI and while Knight remains “hopeful” the 18-year-old will recover in time for the World Cup in South Africa – which England will be aiming to win for the first time since 2009 – she says it will be “tight”.

Speaking ahead of Thursday’s fifth and final T20 international, Knight said: “We haven’t massively been challenged which is a bit of a shame – you always want to be under pressure and winning those tight games as it sharpens you up, but our intensity and will to win is still very normal.

“Not having a third umpire or DRS has been strange, almost like going back in time a little bit. You just become used to them and take them for granted that you have those. That is frustrating but ultimately it is all about the money available.

“It is so important to keep the international game strong and invest in it. There is a lot of change on the horizon with franchise tournaments kicking off – IPL, PSL – but I feel it is important that the international game is looked after, is strong in all countries and still the pinnacle of the game.

“We have seen the changes in the men’s game and they could impact the women’s game more, with the difference in some teams’ depth, if players choose to go down the franchise route and play less cricket for more money.”

‘It feels like we are at the start of something’

The white-ball matches in West Indies are the first under new head coach Jon Lewis, with the former England men’s bowling coach asking Knight’s side to play an aggressive brand of cricket.

The tour also marked Knight’s comeback after a hip issue had sidelined her since July, with the 31-year-old saying the time away from the game and trying to help England’s young players, including in-form seam bowler Lauren Bell, 21, “thrive” has given her “a new lease of life”.

The skipper added: “It feels like we are at the start of something. We have done a lot of things really well, ticked a lot of boxes holistically outside of winning in terms of growing squad depth.

“We have given opportunities and a lot of players have taken those opportunities. We have a really big pool of players to pick from and feel if we have injuries we have brilliant players to come in.

“It’s about continuing the way we are playing and doing it in big world events under pressure. There is excitement and real buy-in from the players.

“The fresh blood we brought in over the summer has been so healthy for the group and created competition.

“You always try and improve as a player as you know someone is ready to come in and kick you out. It’s a nice competitiveness, pushing on and trying to achieve big things as a team.

“You get so much confidence and momentum from winning, so that’s important and we will have a few games before the World Cup to finetune things and get super-ready.”

Will Sciver return as vice-captain?

Like Knight, all-rounder Nat Sciver returned to international action in the West Indies, with the 30-year-old missing the India series in September in order to prioritise her mental health.

Sciver, who struck half-centuries in two of the three ODIs, has not resumed her role as vice-captain but Knight says there is a chance she could do so in the future.

The captain added: “She has not ruled herself out of the [vice-captaincy] but that is for down the line. This tour for Nat has been about getting back to playing cricket and she has done that amazingly.

“For her to play like she did in the ODI series having not played for a long time is remarkable. It has been so nice to have her back and she is key cog in our plans.”

England begin their T20 World Cup campaign against West Indies in Paarl on February 11, live on Sky Sports.