Meg Lanning, Heather Knight aim to keep a tight grip on matches
- Complete transcripts, videos and images from the two media conferences are available on the Online Media Zone for free download and editorial use
Australia captain Meg Lanning and England captain Heather Knight dwelled on the unpredictability of Twenty20 cricket and how a side could lose the grasp over a match in a short span of time, as teams prepare for the ICC Women’s World T20 2018.
Lanning and Knight interacted with the media at the Providence Stadium in Guyana ahead of the 10-team tournament, in which the traditional rivals, whose first official practice match was washed out in Antigua on Saturday, are in different groups.
Three-times champions Australia are placed along with India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland in Group B, while former champions England are in Group A along with Bangladesh, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and defending champions the Windies.
Australia captain Meg Lanning: “It's a pretty tough group, as is the other one. You can't afford to let your guard down for even sort of 15, 20 minutes or you could find yourself dropping a game that you can't afford to do. I think that's the exciting thing about World Cup formats and tournament play is that you need to be on all the time and really focused and we're very aware of that and looking forward to that challenge.
“It can be a little bit hit-or-miss at times, so you do need different people stepping up at different times, and we've seen that throughout the past two series for us that everybody has been able to play their role when needed. We feel like we're going to need that throughout the tournament. We're going to need everyone at some point, so I feel like the group is in a really good spot to be able to recognise that and deliver when it counts.”
“There's no doubt in my mind that this is going to be the most highly skilled and competitive ICC Women's World Cup T20 that we've seen, and it's going to be great to watch, so looking forward to being a part of it.”
England captain Heather Knight: “To be honest it's been quite a long buildup, so it's really nice to get really close to getting out there and playing the first games. Obviously, we're not playing our group games in Guyana, but nice to be out here and see a different part of the world, a slightly different country to what we come to usually.
“Twenty20 is such a fast-paced game, and sort of a bad 10, 15 minutes can lose you a game. As a team, as a bowling unit, as a batting unit, being sure or making sure we're adapting to conditions as well as we can.”
“We've gone with new players, and I think it's a credit to the work that's done, players performing and that it means you're going to get a chance internationally, and I think it's a great thing for us as a squad, trying to keep pushing us forward. Obviously competition for places means players have to be on their game and having to keep moving forward and getting better, which is a great thing to have as a squad, and hopefully it'll keep pushing us forward.”
Media releases, select images and audio news releases of practice matches on 6 and 7 November will be available on the Online Media Zone. For complete schedule of practice and tournament matches clickhere**