In praise of Heather Knight, the batsman

NICK FRIEND: So impressive is Knight as a leader and a figurehead that her status as one of England's best-ever batsmen too readily goes under the radar

We probably don’t do enough of this: lauding Heather Knight for the runs she scores.

Perhaps the greatest compliment that could be paid to England’s captain is that it can be very easy to forget how good she is. Not as a captain, leader, role model or diplomat, but as a right-hander in the middle order and a World Cup winner, with 2,867 ODI runs and a Test 157, whose 486 T20I runs in 2020 were bettered only by Beth Mooney and Sophie Devine.

During a comfortable victory over New Zealand in the first ODI on Tuesday, there was so little jeopardy in the sauntering manner of her half-century that it made a mockery of the notion she might have needed some time to rediscover her 50-over touch after a 14-month wait.

At one stage, having meandered along completely untroubled, she emerged from her crease to caress Frances Mackay over long-off for six. Then, she slipped back into her bubble and carried on as if nothing had happened. It was all so simple, like she had popped to the postbox at lunchtime.

Her knock only came to an end on 67 – at least 50 of which had an inevitability about them – when she ran out of runs to chase. Granted, the bulk of the legwork had been done by England’s bowlers, and this was hardly the most strenuous test she has faced in the last 12 months, but it was emphatically dominant, nonetheless. Perhaps timely as well.

“I'm certainly looking forward to homing in on just playing cricket and captaining in terms of the cricket side of stuff,” she admitted ahead of this series, having spent much of the last year as a figurative heartbeat for the women’s game. She joked in a press conference on Sunday evening that among the challenges of captaining through Covid was being asked “to film videos of myself all the time”.

She added: “What I love about captaincy is, obviously, the on-field stuff and the performance stuff and I guess the last year there's been a lot of other little bits to sort out.”

^{Heather Knight made an unbeaten 67 in England's first ODI victory over New Zealand}

Knight, the leader, wore multiple hats through 2020: figurehead, symbolic, pastoral, gun batsman – and often in that order. Even as she made 721 runs in 17 innings across a stunted year – an outrageous effort given all but two of these were in 20-over matches – it rarely felt as though enough was made of her on-field accomplishments.

Positions of leadership took on further meaning as the impact of the coronavirus took hold, and so much of Knight’s success was seen through that prism.

Last March, she signed up to the NHS volunteer scheme, explaining that “it’s really important that we try and help as much as we can”.

At various points, she was a spokesperson for the entire women’s cricket industry on the subjects of centralised ICC funding, global support, inclusivity and international scheduling.

In January, it emerged that she had contributed to FICA’s report on the sport’s health. “There needs to be equal commitment from all countries to addressing barriers, and promoting and investing in the women’s game if we are to achieve gender equity on the global stage and in individual cricket countries,” she co-wrote with Australia wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy.

Ahead of the introduction of summer retainer contracts in June, Knight was appointed as a PCA vice-chair – a lot for an England captain to take on but she felt a responsibility for her peers. As she put it at the time: “I think it is really important to have a voice on there for the women's game, not just for the international players, but for the domestic players that are joining the professional game in the next few months.”

That knowledge and eloquence made her voice a valuable resource during the pandemic. Whenever there was talk of how English cricket had survived its toughest period, she was on hand to offer an important reminder of the bigger picture – that not every national board had shown the same commitment as the ECB towards the women’s game in their Covid response.

^{Knight starred in the Women's Big Bash for Sydney Thunder}

There are certainly similarities to her male counterparts in that regard: Eoin Morgan, for one, is so lionised as a beacon of captaincy and man-management wisdom that his record as England’s record ODI run-scorer is far too often overlooked. In both cases, remove the proverbial armband from Knight and Morgan and what remains? Two world-class batsmen at the centre of their teams’ best work.

As for comparisons with Joe Root, think of the panic that sets in as their wicket falls. While they are at the crease, the tempo of the game is under England’s control and everything is serene. They are the glue, so dependable over such a long period of time that their runs feel almost pre-agreed.

And so, make no mistake; in Knight, England are immensely fortunate to have such an excellent person at the helm, especially at this point in time.

“She’s a fantastic leader; the players love playing for her and walking out with her,” Lisa Keightley told The Cricketer. “She gives them a lot of confidence and she’s been captain now for four years. She’s really clear on how she wants to be as a leader and working on her strengths and weaknesses all the time.”

But they are equally blessed to have access to her runs – only Charlotte Edwards, Sarah Taylor and Claire Taylor have made more in ODIs for England, and just 15 players ever. Somehow, amid everything else, they continued to flow through 2020 in unwavering fashion. Knight found a way not only to remain in golden touch, but to improve exponentially as a T20 player, even with the vast gaps between series thwarting the consistency of most players.

Until last year, she had only ever passed 50 once in T20Is, having made her debut a decade earlier. But then, she posted three half-centuries and a hundred between January and March, when the world came to a standstill.

^{Only three players have scored more runs for England in ODIs than Knight}

On the other side, she strolled at a run a ball to an unbeaten 91 in her first game for five months, anchoring a chase for Western Storm in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. Against West Indies in five T20Is, she was fluent without converting her superiority, before churning out 446 runs in the Women’s Big Bash at 40.54.

Watching her first-hand over the summer was fascinating. Instead of any exaggerated trigger movements, she stood still – and taller – at the crease than anyone else. She even looked more assertive from the outset. It was no surprise, then, when the ball pinged harder and faster off her bat. Worldwide, only Devine hit more sixes, only Mooney hit more fours.

“She’s worked really hard at her power-hitting and how to go about it; I think that’s really come into fruition at the moment,” added Keightley.

“She’s spoken about how at the start of her T20 career she had to bat in the middle order, and she found it really tough. She’s just in a really good place with her game at the moment.

“If you’ve lost a wicket in a powerplay, to have Heather Knight walking out, I know she has great belief in her skill and her ability. She believes that she will do what’s needed to get her team in a good position to set us up to win a match.”

Replacing Edwards as captain five years ago cannot have been easy. After all, she was half-skipper, half-icon. But Knight has now grown into the role to such an extent that it is difficult to imagine the side without her guidance.

With the bat, she averages 47.44 as ODI captain, compared to 31.35 beforehand. She scores at a significantly faster rate and, in fewer games, has recorded more boundaries. Having struck just two sixes in 50 innings under Edwards, she has hit 14 since taking the reins.

All that makes sense when you watch the way she goes about her work: she is dignified and a leader by example, paving the way for everyone else around her. So much so that just sometimes it is worth stopping to appreciate the breadth of own talent.