26 February 2020

Heather Knight hits century as England ease past Thailand in T20 World Cup

Heather Knight and Natalie Sciver hit the biggest partnership in T20 World Cup history as England beat Thailand by 98 runs in Canberra.

Batting first, England suffered a dismal start as they were reduced to just 7-2, with Amy Jones and Danni Wyatt both dismissed for ducks.

But the introduction of Knight and Sciver proved crucial in the match as they built a stand of 169 runs to see their team finish on 176-2.

Sciver's brilliant knock of 59 was outdone only by captain Knight, who hit 13 fours and four sixes on her way to a first Twenty20 international century, finishing on an unbeaten 108 off just 66 balls.

In reply, Thailand never looked in any real danger of troubling England's target.

Nattakan Chantam was the only Thai batter who managed to pass 20 as they finished on a score of 78-7.

It was a much needed win for Lisa Keightley's side after their six wicket loss to South Africa in their opening match of the tournament.

Afterwards, match winner Knight said: "It was just about staying calm. Nat is brilliant at that and we just tried to keep it quite simple and keep it low risk.

"We had lots of opportunities to score; it was a very good wicket so it was just about building that partnership, not panicking, staying very calm and we knew we could catch up.

"We were really gutted with our performance the other day so it was really important we bounce back with a good performance here which we did.

"It's nice to be contributing. I seem to like batting in Canberra so I had a bit of fun out there and Nat was brilliant down the other end."

England now take on Pakistan on Friday before their final group game against the West Indies on Sunday.

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