Heather Knight hails Danielle Gibson’s crucial mindset for England’s T20 World Cup

New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) England captain Heather Knight said she was taken aback by the maturity shown by all-rounder Danielle Gibson and thinks she has shown the mindset which is expected of players in the national side ahead of this year’s Women’s T20 World Cup.

Danielle, who has played 18 T20Is for England, took eight wickets and went on to slam a highly valuable 22 from just nine deliveries in the final of The Hundred to play a pivotal role in London Spirit defeating Welsh Fire and winning the title for the first time. She now places herself in contention to be a member of England’s T20 World Cup squad in October.

“I forget how young she is. We saw the game she played at Lord’s, a reverse-sweep to go and win the game against Australia last year, and that’s the sort of mindset that we want in that England side: the willingness to take risks, take the game on and express what your talent, and Dani epitomises that.”

“She’s a player that can impact a game in all three facets… she hasn’t gone as well as she would’ve liked with the ball in the last couple of games, but (to have) the character to go, ‘I’m going to go and win this game for us’ was unbelievable. She’s a great ball-striker. She’s got real clarity about how she wants to play and that’s exactly what we want for her. I’m delighted for her,” Heather was quoted as saying by ICC.

The right-handed batting all-rounder feels many of her team-mates are in prime form ahead of the T20 World Cup, which England are aiming to win for the second time after winning the inaugural edition in 2009 at home.

Apart from Heather, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt, and Alice Capsey were amongst top five run-getters in the women’s Hundred, while leg-spinner Sarah Glenn finished as the second-best wicket-taker with 12 scalps.

“I’m really pleased. It’s great to see the rest of the girls contributing and I’m very excited to meet up again in a couple of weeks. Nat (Sciver-Brunt) has been unbelievable. She’s barely got out and the way she’s played has been awesome.”

“It’s really pleasing going into a World Cup. I haven’t probably had the best few Hundreds, so I was really desperate to do well this year. I was really pleased to contribute…I felt quite fresh and really wanted to show what form I’m in,” she concluded.

–IANS

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