Knight celebrates Capsey and Dean's nerves after tense win
Media release
Heather Knight praised teammates Charlie Dean and Alice Capsey for keeping their nerve with the bat to help steer England to a four-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025.
In pursuit of a target of 179, England found themselves in bother at 78 for five thanks to Marufa Akter (2/28) and Fahima Khatun’s (3/16) clinical display of pace and spin bowling respectively.
But Dean and Capsey were able to provide Knight, who made a match-winning 79 not out, with the support she needed to get England over the line.
Capsey looked assured during her 20 before Dean’s 27 not out from 56 balls showed a steely resolve that will serve England well.
Knight said: “I thought [Alice] played really well to form a small partnership early on. Charlie was brilliant. We knew one good partnership would get us most of the runs, and we kept things quite simple.
“We had to park a few shots we’d normally play and adjust to the surface and the accuracy of their bowling, [there wasn’t] much pace on the ball.
“I’m really pleased for Charlie. She’s worked hard on her batting, handled the pressure well, and that big partnership was crucial.”
Knight was playing in just her fourth match since May but was able to conjure up all the skill and quality required to help her country win, a sign that she has overcome the difficult period she was going through leading up to the tournament.
She continued: “It didn’t feel very easy at the start, to be honest. It was my first proper game in the middle since May, so I was just trying to find some rhythm.
“I thought they bowled really well up front, they were threatening. I just tried to find a method to get through that phase. As things went on, it got a bit easier; I got used to the turn a bit more.
“They took a lot of pace off the ball, which made it tricky to hit through the outfield, but it did get easier as it went on, as it generally does with batting.”
England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, who replaced Knight in the role, expressed her delight at the 34-year-old’s knock, which featured three reprieves from being given out caught and LBW, and is pleased to have her back in the international set-up.
She said: “[She showed all her class and skill] absolutely. She was almost walking off a couple of times, but she stayed switched on, read the game really well, and knew exactly what she needed to do for the team. She’s brilliant to have back.”
Sciver-Brunt, who made an important contribution of 32, admitted in an ideal world her team’s chase would have been tidier, but was happy that her team found a way to win on a tricky batting surface.
She added: “I think we did what we needed to do to get over the line. Before the tournament, we spoke as a group and agreed that not every over is going to be easy.
“It’s going to look a bit gritty, and we’ll need resilience in our skills and in the way we approach things. We did what we had to do to get over the line. It could have looked a bit better, but we’re really happy to be on the winning side.”
Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana Joty highlighted the importance of Rabeya Khan’s unbeaten 43 which helped give her side a respectable target to defend.
But, after being dismissed two balls shy of their full 50 overs, Joty challenged her team to avoid being bowled out in future innings.
She said: “I wanted to see them play till the last ball, because if we used all the balls, we could have got 12 runs more and that could have been effective.
“I think Rabeya played really well in the last over, a good cameo from her, but still, I think on this wicket, we were short of 30 runs overall.”
ENDS