Knight relishing Leicester return

England captain Heather Knight is relishing a return to Leicester after it was confirmed that England will play at all four venues in the group stages of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017.

The national team will play here, Derby, Bristol and Taunton with each venue hosting seven group fixtures. Derby and Bristol will host the Semi-Finals and Lord’s is hosting the showpiece game.

And, with ticket records already beaten with 5,500 tickets being snapped up for the Lord’s Final, England will be hoping to make it through to a fifth venue in the competition.

Knight has particularly fond memories of Grace Road from her experience this summer. The WODI against Pakistan marked her captaincy debut and although the game went into a reserve day, it did not halt England’s progress.

The 25-year-old produced a stunning individual performance, scoring an unbeaten half-century and taking five wickets as well as showing strong leadership.

“It was an incredibly proud moment for me to lead the team out for the first time at Leicester,” said Knight.

“The rain on the first day wasn’t so good,” she laughed, “but to get a good result on the Tuesday, and to also do well individually, was pleasing.

“To be in a home World Cup is brilliant. Home support is massive; it will add to the pressure a bit but we are learning to embrace that and thrive on it.

“We’d love to see people come out and watch us play, not just at Lord’s if we make the final but in the group games. We are playing at all four of the venues so we’d love to have people support us there and hopefully see us go on a run and make it to Lord’s.”

“You dream about playing at Lord’s and in a World Cup Final - there will be no better feeling.”

Several worldwide series formed part of the qualifying stages, including this summer’s games against Pakistan, and England won 21 of 26 matches overall. They will take on Australia, New Zealand and West Indies after the nations confirmed their places through the first phase of qualification.

India, South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will now need to get through the 10-team ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2017 in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo from 7-21 February.

The other teams in the tournament will be regional qualifiers Bangladesh, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Scotland and Zimbabwe.

Four teams from the event will advance to the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 and Knight thinks the entire process has been both competitive and valuable.

“It was a fantastic feeling for us to qualify in Sri Lanka, it felt like we’d reached the end point of a long journey,” said Knight. “It was a brilliant idea to make each individual series part of the qualification process because it gave it context.

“Every game we played had meaning and we have faced all of the major nations. The four teams that many will have expected to qualify have made it through - but it was tough.

“There’s now a chance for emerging nations to qualify too through this latest qualifier which is a really good initiative.

“The women’s game is really well supported here in England and I’ll be proud to lead the team out. We’re already looking forward to it and the cricket will be high quality, whichever of the teams qualify.”

The ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 will reunite some of the stars of this season’s Kia Super League, including Ellyse Perry of Australia and New Zealand’s Sophie Devine, who played for Loughborough Lightning.

Knight’s Western Storm side beat Lightning in the first game on Finals Day before being edged out by Southern Vipers in a tournament that really captured the imagination.

“The Kia Super League was a big success and it was enjoyable to play in,” said Knight. “The crowds at the Kia Super League were good and they will only grow. It was a tournament that really whetted the appetite.

“For our young cricketers to learn off marquee overseas players was excellent. Those overseas players will be recognisable to supporters this summer when they return to represent their countries. It will be a big summer of cricket.”

* Tickets for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 group stages will go on sale in early 2017. The remaining tickets for Final and Semi-Finals to go on general sale at 10am on 28 November via www.icc-cricket.com/tickets