Heather Knight: England must come together despite "comical" Women's Ashes preparations

England's plans have been severely altered already through factors well beyond their control, but their captain has urged them to make the most of the opportunity and repel the adversity

England captain Heather Knight has described her side's preparations for the Women's Ashes as "comical" and "pretty average".

She was speaking shortly after it was confirmed that a member of the team's support staff had tested positive for Covid.

The series has already been brought forward by a week in order to ensure both England and Australia can complete 10-day quarantine periods in New Zealand ahead of the Women's World Cup, which begins in March.

That was announced on January 6, a day before England flew to Australia. While they were mid-air, restrictions changed at their destination.

"It's not been ideal, that's for sure," said Knight. "The lead-up for a number of reasons has been pretty average, to be honest. It's all out of our control."

Ahead of departure, England's players were effectively in semi-lockdown from Christmas onwards in order to avoid infection, meaning that they could only train with other members of their household.

^{England haven't played since beating New Zealand in September (Christopher Lee/Getty Images)}

"We've had mums feeding bowling machines, boyfriends slinging, girlfriends slinging, dads batting and any family members or households supporting our training," Knight explained. "It's been pretty comical and not ideal preparation for a series of this magnitude, but it's been completely unavoidable for us to do that."

She added: "Just to get everyone on the plane out here has been tough. Obviously, with that 10-day quarantine in New Zealand, we found out that our preparation is going to be a little bit shorter. So getting our heads round that and trying to find ways to get ourselves ready, physically, mentally, has been a little bit harder.

"Then throwing Covid in there and shifting goalposts from the World Cup a little bit as well it has been quite hard to focus on the cricket at the moment."

When England were finally able to train outdoors, it then rained heavily through the session.

They have not played competitively since beating New Zealand in an ODI series in September, with the tour of Pakistan cancelled at the last minute. A training camp in Oman was arranged – and that went well – but there is no debate that preparation has been far from what Knight would want ahead of such a defining series.

"What we've got to do is try and make the most of it," she insisted. "We're absolutely going to do that. It's out of our control what has happened in the build-up, and for us as players we've just got to get ourselves ready mentally as best we can and find a way to bring the team together almost.

^{Australia won the Women's Ashes in 2019 (Michael Steele/Getty Images)}

"I think it's more how we approach it mentally – if we use that as an excuse and become super-negative about it, that's not going to be healthy for us.

"I think mainly the strategy we've found is to make jokes and try to laugh about it, to be honest, and try to keep everyone as relaxed as possible and try to find the funny side of it because that definitely helps in terms of trying to get your head around it.

"We've got to keep tight as a group, we've got to keep spirits high and find a way really. It's easier said than done, but that's our jobs. We've been dealt the hand we've been given but hopefully we can play a blinder and be successful."