: Womens T20 World Cup: Semis defeat will not define Englands entertainers, says skipper Heather Knight #IndiaNEWS #Sports Cape Town, Feb 25 (IANS) Aggressive, attacking and entertaining cricket has

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Womens T20 World Cup: Semis defeat will not define Englands entertainers, says skipper Heather Knight #IndiaNEWS #Sports
Cape Town, Feb 25 (IANS) Aggressive, attacking and entertaining cricket has been at the forefront of Englands approach at the ICC Womens T20 World Cup 2023 in South Africa. And while the semifinal defeat to hosts South Africa will sting, it was not their style of play that proved Englands undoing.
The playing style of the England womens team under coach Jon Lewis has clear parallels with the Bazball approach of the England mens Test team.
Skipper Heather Knight feels that this new approach and the confidence her players gained from such tactics will boost the teams confidence in future.
Taking the positive option and looking to assert themselves in the game, Englands batters followed the same blueprint in Fridays semifinal at Cape Town, with openers Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt tearing out of the blocks.
Englands opening pair smashed 53 in five overs before Dunkley was dismissed, and the attacking shots kept on coming as England tried and ultimately failed in the face of a brilliant bowling and fielding performance from South Africa.
Just days earlier, England had racked up 213 against Pakistan in the biggest total ever seen at a Womens T20 World Cup, and captain Heather Knight believes that performance helped prove that the strategy is the right one, even if the execution against the Proteas was perhaps not.
I think we got pretty close to chasing the world record score, so I think it proves that its a pretty good strategy, Knight said in her media conference after the semi-final loss.
I think Sophia and Danni at the top of the order were outstanding and got us ahead of the game. We were well ahead of where South Africa were, but they were able to obviously pile runs on at the back end as we werent able to take the wickets, unfortunately.
But, yeah, I think the mentality has been outstanding, particularly in the batting group. Weve really looked to adopt something a little bit different.
Playing such positive cricket isnt a completely new thing for an England side who have been impressing in both white-ball formats in recent years, reaching the final of last years Womens Cricket World Cup.
But the appointment of Lewis in November saw attacking intent given even more weight, with the coach keen to back a mantra that is sweeping through the game.
Its something we laid the foundations for I think before Jon came in, but weve noticed a real shift and I think its proving that its entertaining, Knight said.
Its good to watch and we always talk about trying to fit the mindset to the conditions as well and being smart with it.
Its not purely about risk-taking and as a batter, its always about weighing up your risks to reward. But in T20 cricket, you dont have too much time to not take risks in my opinion, she said after the match.

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