There was plenty of discussion and hope that losing the England captaincy would allow Knight more freedom as a batter, and in her first two knocks since, that has already come to fruition.
She made 43 not out in the first T20 at Canterbury, and was not required to bat in the second, before finishing strongly by reaching her first international T20 half-century on home soil from 38 balls.
West Indies were rewarded for a much more consistent bowling effort, sticking to a simple plan of keeping the stumps in play and squeezing England’s batters as much as possible with a little help from a surface which aided their spin-heavy attack.
It meant that Knight had to work through the gears, focusing on rotating the strike and picking the gaps in her partnership with Sciver-Brunt which came after England posted their second-lowest T20 powerplay score when batting first at home, with only two boundaries struck in the opening six overs.
After Sciver-Brunt was caught on the boundary at the end of the 11th over, Jones’ counter-attacking knock took the pressure off during the the middle overs which allowed Knight to display more versatility, striking one enormous six over mid-wicket and producing an array of cheeky ramps and paddles off the spinners.
Her injury will be a concern as she struggled to run between the wickets in the final couple of overs, but it has been a highly promising return to the batting ranks.
There are questions surrounding Wyatt-Hodge’s form, however, with 17 runs in three innings having already been dropped from the ODI squad for this series. The opener’s 22 ducks are the most in men’s and women’s T20 internationals, and 11 of them have come first ball.
