Heather Knight says England will test T20 World Cup lineup against New Zealand

The upcoming T20I series between England and New Zealand could be the strongest indicator yet of how England plan to line up for the World Cup in Bangladesh.

Speaking in a rain-soaked Southampton ahead of the first of five matches on Saturday, England captain Heather Knight said those conditions would be virtually impossible to replicate at home but her team wanted to play in combinations and scenarios as if they were there.

“All we can do as players is prepare as best we can,” Knight said. “In terms of preparing the team, little things like playing the teams we think we’ll be playing in Bangladesh are definitely options.”

“Regardless of the situation here, we will prepare as if we are playing Bangladesh and have the faith to give it a go no matter what the situation here is.”

“So we will be looking at what we might potentially do in Bangladesh, not necessarily saying, ‘It’s a bit green here so we’ll bring in one seamer, usually an extra one’, which we probably wouldn’t do in these circumstances.

“Obviously the aim is to win, but we also have bigger goals in mind with the World Cup coming up.

“It’s always going to be a delicate balance between preparing individuals and balancing the team and trying some things that may not suit the conditions here but may actually suit the conditions in Bangladesh. That will be at the forefront of our decision-making as a leadership group.”

If England’s recent three-match ODI win streak against the White Ferns is any indication, they may be able to afford to continue with an experimental mindset, whatever the pitch, weather or opponent.

After comfortable wins by nine and eight wickets in the first two matches, England looked comfortable chasing a target of 212 in 42 overs in a rain-hit game at Bristol on Wednesday. England won comfortably by five wickets, thanks to a five-wicket haul from Lauren Bell and a 90-run stand between Nat Sciver Brunt and Amy Jones, who both scored fifties.

Knight said England had “almost” decided their squad for the T20 World Cup.

“There are just a few positions that we want to finalise and sort out,” she said. “What we want to look at is how we want to play for Bangladesh and the skills we need as batsmen and bowlers to be successful for Bangladesh.”

“It’s very difficult at the moment, especially picking 15 and then 11. The girls are performing very well and it’s very difficult for us. It shows our competition and how well the players are performing.”

“In Bangladesh we will need all those players. Someone might be unwell on the morning of the match so we need a team with enough back-ups and enough players to fill different positions in different situations. We are close to winning and hopefully we will be pretty much fit by the end of the series.”

Freya Kemp played solely as a batsman for a long period before returning from a back injury but she could feature as an all-rounder against New Zealand.

Sophia Dunkley is also included in the squad after being left out of the squad following a disappointing tour of New Zealand earlier this year, and she scored 15 runs from 24 balls batting at no.5 on her return in the third ODI earlier this week.

Seamar Bell overcame a difficult period as he tried to change his bowling style ahead of the matches against New Zealand and Pakistan, before hitting his breakthrough moment with his maiden five-wicket haul in Bristol.

“It meant a lot to her,” Knight said of Bell’s performance. “I had a little update that morning and she was pretty nervous about how it was going to go, but she performed great and I think it meant a lot to her confidence.”

“When you’re dealing with those issues on the international stage and even on the national stage, it can be really difficult because a lot of people are results-driven. But ultimately we knew she would end up doing well. It was just a question of when and if those issues would calm down.”

“Being able to go through that difficult time and come through it and come up with some processes that have worked for her, some mental routines that she has now, I think that’s going to be a big learning for her going forward.”