Heather Knight has spent years calling for five-day women’s Tests. Unfortunate, then, that she has just presided over one that finished in three – England’s first defeat in that time frame in more than two decades.
Knight put a brave face on England’s 347-run defeat against India in the one-off Mumbai Test when she spoke on Saturday, arguing that the focus should instead be on England’s success in the white-ball leg of the tour: England, after all, came out on top in two of the three Twenty20 games which preceded the Test.
“We’re pretty philosophical about [losing the Test],” she said. “These conditions were extreme, and I’d be surprised if we face those again unless we play another Test in India in the near future, which I am not sure is in the plan. We’ve got the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh next year, and that’s a key focus for us.”
It’s true that England do not have another Test match scheduled until next November (against South Africa), and no more in India until at least mid-2025, according to the future tours programme. It’s also true that it is difficult for a team to be equally adept at the red-ball and white-ball games, given that Tests are such a rarity in women’s cricket.
On the other hand, disregarding defeat by claiming that the match was unimportant anyway is hardly a good way to make the case for playing more Test cricket – the format Knight has said she feels is the pinnacle of her sport. Whichever way you square it, being knocked over for 136 in the first innings and 131 in the second, and batting for a grand total of 63 overs in what was supposed to be a four-day game, was an embarrassing display.
The real worry is this is not an isolated incident, but that it may be turning into something of a pattern for England under the coaching of Jon Lewis. This is after a T20 series defeat by Sri Lanka in September and, more recently, almost messing up a straightforward run-chase of 81 in the second T20 against India, then being bowled out for 126 in the third. Is Jon-ball (the aggressive style of play to which the coach lends his name) beginning to encourage too much of a one-track mindset?
England now have a lengthy break before their next international assignment, a white-ball tour of New Zealand beginning in March. One key concern will be ensuring Sophie Ecclestone continues on the road to recovery from her recent shoulder injury, after becoming visibly frustrated at times with her relative lack of success in India. “She gets emotional,” Nat Sciver‑Brunt said during the Test. “She’s got very high expectations because she’s been performing at the top of her game for the past few years, and she wants to be in exactly the place she was in before she got injured.”
Another worry will be the form of Sophia Dunkley, who has been England’s opener of choice in T20 cricket for the past 18 months, but since the start of 2023 has hit just one international half century. The technical changes to her grip which she made after a difficult summer, along with attending Lewis’s emergency batting boot camp in Mumbai in October, do not seem to have done the trick; England may yet have to make a difficult call ahead of September’s World Cup in Bangladesh, especially with Maia Bouchier eager to take on the opener mantle.
Either way, let’s hope Lewis is having more honest conversations in the dressing room than the one Knight had with the media after the match. Shrugging off your worst defeat in over 20 years is not the way to prepare for a World Cup.
