Knight backs T20 'reset' to bring out England's best – T20 IPL 2024

Heather Knight believes that an injection of fresh faces and a return to England’s best format gives them hope of turning around the Ashes series around after they were trounced 3-0 in the ODIs.

England have left themselves no option but to win every remaining match of the multiformat series – three T20Is and the day-night Test at the MCG – after falling 6-0 behind with their heavy defeat in Hobart as Australia secured an ODI whitewash. Even if it’s 6-6 heading into that game Australia would only need a draw to retain the Ashes.

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“The last Ashes series was 6-0 and we’re able to turn things around,” Knight said. “I think having a change of format will be really good for us. I think T20 cricket is one of our best formats. I think that little reset will do us some good.

“We’ve got to keep believing, but we can’t look too far ahead. Back in the last Ashes, we kept it game by game and just got on a bit of a roll. We’re still alive, we’re still in it, and we’ve got to keep believing we can.”

Bess Heath, Dani Gibson, Freya Kemp and Linsey Smith come into the squad for the T20Is have not been part of the one-day series.

Both teams have points to prove in the format after England went out in the group stage of last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE and Australia exited in the semi-finals. The home side have not played a T20I since that tournament whereas England have had a tour of South Africa but Knight did not see that as a significant advantage.

“I think they’re a team that play T20 cricket very well,” she said. “And as are we. We’ve played some brilliant T20 cricket recently in the last year. So hopefully it does [help] but I don’t think it will make a huge advantage them not playing too much.”

Meanwhile, Kate Cross will be among a handful of England players who will now switch their attention to preparing for the pink-ball Test at the MCG.

Knight confirmed that Cross, who has been recovering from a back problem picked up in South Africa, was very close to playing the final ODI and that the bowler herself felt she could have featured.

“Kate felt like she was pretty close and probably fit enough to play,” Knight said. “But we felt like it was too much of a risk really because she hasn’t had a huge amount of cricket. She’s still in a place where it is a bit grumbly and can flare up at any time.

“The Test match girls will have a little bit of a camp away from us, training, so Tammy [Beaumont] and Ryana MacDonald-Gay will be a part of that. They’ll get a really good preparation. So, it’s moving in the right direction [for Cross].”

Switching between formats is a challenge during this series in a condensed schedule. There are just two days between the end of the ODIs before the first T20I at the SCG, then a four-day gap for players to get ready for the pink-ball four-day encounter in Melbourne.

Australia are expected to name their Test squad on Monday.

Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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