England captain Heather Knight doesn’t think the team has anything to prove as they begin a multi-format series against South Africa just over a month after a hugely disappointing group stage exit at the T20 World Cup.
Sunday’s opening T20 match in east London is the first of three ahead of three one-day internationals and a Test match, which begins on December 15, giving England an early opportunity to bounce back from the superb defeat against the West Indies which sent them home from Dubai. early five weeks ago.
There has been plenty of criticism since that defeat, scrutiny Knight said reflected the growing stature of the game, but she insisted England still had confidence in themselves and their approach.
“In terms of evidence, I think it will be individual,” Knight said.
“Some people will be motivated by that and others will just want to keep improving and keep doing what they do really well. I don’t think there’s a huge amount of points to prove.
“Sometimes it’s clear that a big change needs to be made and sometimes it’s not. I think in this case there is no need to make big changes. I think the worst thing you can do is be reactionary.
“It comes down to that really fearless cricket that we want to play, and when teams fight against us, which they will, making sure we’re really calm and really focused on solutions.
“It’s important to remember we played some brilliant cricket. We are not becoming a bad team because we lost that match and played poorly in 10 overs in the World Cup.
“It’s obviously a bump in the road that’s going to keep us pretty humble and keep us motivated to improve and highlight some things that we need to do a little bit better.”
South Africa reached the World Cup final, losing to New Zealand, and is expected to provide a tough test for England ahead of January’s Ashes.
“The Ashes are fast approaching, and naturally it’s hard not to pay attention with the preparations,” Knight said.
“I think the best preparation for us will be to succeed here against a very good team.”