Six of the best: Heather Knight's finest innings across formats

Heather Knight will retire from international cricket at the conclusion of the ongoing Test against India at Lord's, bringing down the curtain on a career spanning 320 caps, 8,017 international runs and six centuries across formats.

She led England in 199 matches between 2016 and 2025, and captained the side to the 2017 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup title on home soil. In 2020 she became the first England player, male or female, to score a century in all three international formats.

“I’m extremely grateful and privileged to have gone on the journey that I have been on as an England cricketer,” Knight said in a statement shared by the ECB. “It’s hard to walk away because the dressing room and the people in the dressing room have been a constant in my life for 16 years.”

Here are the knocks that stand out across the three formats.

TESTS

157 v Australia, Wormsley, 2013

Just her third Test, and it produced a near seven-hour vigil that helped England secure a draw and set up their eventual Ashes triumph that winter. A 22-year-old Knight showed the patience that would come to define her longest-format game.

168* v Australia, Canberra, 2022

Her Test career-best. Knight walked in with England in trouble at 337/9 down, then anchored a 100-run ninth-wicket stand with Sophie Ecclestone to drag England to a draw which was the second-highest score by a captain in the history of Women's Tests, and the highest Test score by an English woman against Australia in Australia. It earned her a second ICC Women's Player of the Month award.

ODIs

106 v Pakistan, Grace Road, Leicester, 2017 World Cup

Knight's maiden ODI century arrived at the perfect time, in tandem with Nat Sciver-Brunt, with the pair sharing what was then a record 213-run third-wicket partnership at a Women's World Cup. England posted their second-highest World Cup total and won by 107 runs, laying the platform for the title triumph that followed at Lord's a month later.

109 v India, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 2025 World Cup

Returning from a serious hamstring injury that had cost her the captaincy and a home summer, Knight struck 109 off 91 balls to seal a nervy four-run win over India and win the Player of the Match award. Built on timing and placement rather than power, it was a reminder that the old craft hadn't gone anywhere.

T20Is

108* v Thailand, Manuka Oval, Canberra, 2020 T20 World Cup

With England reeling at 7/2 inside the first ten balls, Knight walked out and completely rebuilt the innings before accelerating into overdrive. She and Sciver-Brunt added an unbroken 169 for the third wicket, and Knight finished unbeaten on 108 off 66 balls, reaching three figures off 63 deliveries before closing out with a six. The innings made her the first woman in the sport's history to score international centuries in all three formats.

58 v South Africa, The Oval, 2026 T20 World Cup semi-final

With England reduced to 23/3 inside four overs, Knight and captain Nat Sciver-Brunt came together for a 133-run fourth-wicket stand — England's highest for that wicket at a T20 World Cup — to power the hosts to 169 for 5 and a 40-run win. Knight's 58 off 47 balls was her first fifty-plus T20 World Cup score since that 2020 century, and set up a home final against Australia at Lord's.