'Team Is Refocusing On Women's World Cup After Ashes Loss', Says Captain Heather Knight

England women's cricket captain Heather Knight has said that her team was trying to "refocus after an Ashes series that didn't go our way", and added that she was looking forward to the ICC Women's World Cup, scheduled to commence here from March 4.

In her column for the ICC on Wednesday, Knight said that the girls were looking forward to completing their mandatory quarantine and beginning their training in right earnest for the showpiece event, to be held at six venues across New Zealand.

"As a group, we need to reset and refocus after an Ashes series that didn't go our way. I was really pleased with how we started the series. We went toe to toe with Australia and heading into the ODI leg of the series, the scoreline could easily have been different to the 6-4 deficit we found ourselves facing. As it was, there just wasn't enough mental energy to go back to the well and fight back in the ODI series," admitted the 31-year-old Knight.

Hosts Australia emerged 12-4 winners in the recently-concluded multi-format Ashes series and Knight said the aim now was to do well in the upcoming cricketing carnival despite a far-from-normal scenario.

"It's pretty surreal to feel so near to a World Cup and yet so far away! Throwing rolled-up socks into your bed to keep ticking over wasn't how I imagined our build-up for this tournament back in 2017 but an awful lot has happened in the world since then. As I write this, we're on day five of our quarantine and we're not far away from being let out, thanks to the New Zealand Government's change of isolation rules!

"We're obviously looking forward to being allowed back out to train. Some of us cope better than others in quarantine but we've been trying to keep busy. We've been up to our eyebrows in crosswords, Sophie Ecclestone has been running HIIT classes on Zoom, Freya Davies organised a brilliant quiz (including 'Guess the baby picture', which was brilliant) and I've taken some inspiration from watching a documentary on the first all-female crew to take part in the Whitbread Round the World Race," said Knight.

She conceded that the multi-format Ashes series against Australia had taken a toll on the team, but added that despite the losses there was a lot to learn and implement in the Women's World Cup.

"A multi-format Ashes series is incredibly demanding and when you throw in COVID it becomes tougher again. That's no excuse -- we didn't deserve to win the series -- but I think it goes some way to explaining our performances across the last two ODIs which I don't think were befitting of the team that we are. I want us to use that in the World Cup -- there's lots we need to take out of the Ashes to come back tougher and more united in order to try and retain our trophy.

"World Cups are truly special events. There's nothing that quite compares, and you always feel privileged to be a part of it. We've got a few faces who've been there and done it before, but we've also got a number of players who are taking part in a World Cup for the first time. I think we saw that mix of youth and experience at its best when we were at our best in the Ashes, and I'm keen to see us come out and play with some excitement when we do get out of our bedrooms," she added.