Defeated England captain Heather Knight concedes her side were ‘outplayed’ by a ‘pretty amazing’ Australia in Women’s Cricket World Cup final… as she defends her decision to bowl first as a ’50-50 call’
- England were beaten by Australia in the Women’s World Cup final on Sunday
- Lisa Keightley’s side were bowled out for 285, 71 runs short of Australia’s total
- Australia, who were simply too good in New Zealand, have won a £1m prize pot
Heather Knight admitted England were ‘outplayed’ in Sunday’s World Cup final and accepts they are playing catch up to a phenomenal Australia.
Australia won their seventh women’s World Cup by defeating England by 71 runs thanks to a momentous 170 from opener Alyssa Healy and captain Knight admitted her side were second best throughout the final in Christchurch.
‘The way Australia played in a final was pretty amazing,’ said Knight. ‘It was a very good wicket and the innings by Alyssa was one of the best I’ve seen live. it will take time to digest what went wrong but Australia outplayed us and brought their best game to the biggest stage. Fair play to them.’
Heather Knight admitted England were ‘outplayed’ in Sunday’s World Cup final
Knight praised the ‘character and resilience’ of an England side who lost the first three games of their title defence but fought back from the brink of elimination to reach the final.
But she was forced to defend a decision to bowl first at the Hagley Oval that saw Australia smash 356 for five and was condemned as negative by her predecessor as captain in Charlotte Edwards.
‘It was a 50-50 call,’ said Knight. ‘The stats at the ground, particularly under lights, are in favour of chasing and I felt it would give us the best chance of winning.
Australia won their seventh women’s World Cup by defeating England by 71 runs
It did do a bit in the first 10 overs and if we’d taken a couple of early wickets it’s a different story. You can judge it in hindsight but I wouldn’t change what I did.’
Nat Sciver kept England in the hunt with her second unbeaten hundred against Australia in the tournament and said: ‘When Charlie Dean was there we knew if we were still together with three overs left there would be a chance of us getting over the line.
‘But Australia changed the momentum again. If someone had stayed around for a hundred partnership with me it might have been a different story.’
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