Confident England must stay in the moment - Knight

Women's T20 World Cup 2024

Dates: 3-20 October Venues: Sharjah & Dubai

Coverage: Ball-by-ball radio commentary on BBC Sounds, plus live text commentary and in-play video clips on the BBC Sport website and app

England captain Heather Knight says her side will not "turn their heads" away from the group stages as they begin their Women's T20 World Cup campaign.

Previous hosts Bangladesh are England's first opponents on Saturday, with West Indies, India and South Africa completing their group.

Knight believes England took their eye off the ball during the previous tournament in 2023, when they were surprisingly knocked out by hosts South Africa in the semi-final.

"We probably did look ahead a little bit, and some players started to turn their heads towards a potential final," said Knight.

"That was a real big mistake but one we've learned from really well."

England rightly start the World Cup with confidence, having finished their home summer unbeaten and with the benefit of a pre-tournament camp in Abu Dhabi, which has helped the players acclimatise to hot and humid conditions.

They beat New Zealand in their second warm-up game after losing the first to defending champions Australia, the world heavyweights who have won six of the previous seven T20 titles.

And while Knight insists England are not thinking about their rivals yet, they are boosted by the last time they played one another competitively in last year's Ashes, where England won both white-ball series.

"That is our blueprint for how we want to play against any team, Australia or otherwise," Knight added.

"As a team, we have learned so much since 2023 and this summer has given us a lot of confidence because we have added a bit more smartness to the style of cricket that we want to play."

With the World Cup's venue changing so last minute, from Bangladesh to the UAE, teams have had to adapt quickly and the matches played so far indicate that spin is going to play a big part on slow, low pitches.

The tournament started with two low-scoring encounters as Bangladesh and Pakistan defended totals of 119 and 116 against Scotland and Sri Lanka respectively.

Knight said discussions around conditions and the weather have played a big part in their plans, but she feels England have all bases covered in their squad to handle whatever they are presented with.

"The dew hasn't been a factor so far but I've been told the evenings will get colder in the next week or so, so it could change," Knight said.

"But it's a bit of a guessing game, in terms of when that happens. Watching yesterday, it looked very hot, so I will have to manage my bowlers - we know it'll be tough, but we feel ready."

England will likely face a trial by spin against Bangladesh, who boast plenty of variation in their slow bowling to test Knight and her batters, something that has troubled the line-up in recent years.

"We've worked a lot in the build-up on how we play spin and slow bowling, which is what we are expecting to face here," she added.

"We believe we can beat anyone on our best day and our challenge is to put that together on the biggest stage."