England and Sri Lanka prepare to start campaigns
- The England and Sri Lanka captains spoke to the media ahead of their opening match at The Daren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia; unedited videos, audio news release and complete transcripts available on the Online Media Zone
- Online Media Zone to host reports, photographs, post-match press conference videos and transcripts, as well as an audio news release on all match days
As the ICC Women’s World T20 got underway at the Guyana National Stadium in Georgetown, England captain Heather Knight and Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu looked ahead to their opening clash in St Lucia on Saturday.
Both sides have had a difficult start to their preparations in the Caribbean, England faced defeat against India in their only playable practice match as well as losing key all-rounder Katherine Brunt to injury in the process.
The 2009 champions, England, enter the competition as World Cup winners and will be hoping to restore the kind of form that saw them win last year’s tournament.
Heather Knight, who made her T20I debut against Sri Lanka in 2010, said:
“I think we're a very different team to the last World Cup in 2016 and obviously we come here having great success in the World Cup in England.”
“In T20 cricket we've become a lot more consistent over the years in terms of how we go about things and continue to play exciting cricket.”
“Sri Lanka have got some good players as well. We'll have to be at the top of our game. We've seen a little bit of Chamari Atapattu playing in the Kia Super League.”
“I think any side can compete in this competition. A bad 10, 15 minutes can lose you a game. So, we have to make sure we're on it and the girls are really excited to get going tomorrow.”
Sri Lanka have lost both their practice matches against New Zealand and Ireland in Antigua and go into the tournament without ever reaching the knockout phase.
Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu said:
“Every team has a chance to win the match. I think the ranking is just a number, but if any team playing good cricket that day, that team will win.
“So I think this group is good because last T20 World Cup we beat South Africa and Ireland. Both teams are in our group, if we can beat both teams and if we can beat another team, we have a chance to go to the semifinals. That's our target.”
“I think if we playe our best cricket tomorrow, we have a chance of winning the match, because my gut feeling is ranking and the name of countries doesn’t matter in this format.”
England against Sri Lanka is the first of nine group stage matches that will be staged at the Daren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia and tomorrow’s match will begin at 16h00 (GMT -4).
Media releases, select images and audio news releases of all tournament matches will be available on the Online Media Zone. For complete schedule of tournament matches clickhere.**