Why England skipper Heather Knight will use ‘completely fair’ criticism as motivation

England captain Heather Knight says the mass scrutiny of her “really disappointed” side is warranted but it won’t stop her using it as motivation this week.

England captain Heather Knight concedes the criticism of her side this Ashes series is “completely fair”, but it won’t stop her from using it as motivation during Thursday’s Test.

Every aspect of the English has been under the microscope during the winless tour, including their fitness and professionalism.

The most recent piece of criticism came from former captain and champion Alastair Cook who said the English were “20 per cent behind” the Aussies at every turn.

“The best thing about when you have lost 5-0 is that you’re at the bottom, and the only out from the bottom is up,” Cook told the Cricket on TNT panel.

“Ultimately I think they’re (England) 20 per cent behind Australia in everything: batting, bowling, fielding, athleticism, all the lot.

“So it’s actually ‘right, how do we start making those 20 per cent gains’? It doesn’t take one day, it’s not just a one-day thing, it’s not a five-minute thing.

“It is unfortunately two or three hard years of hard work as a team to get up to that level and that’s the reality of it.”

England great now commentator Alastair Cook expects a long road ahead for the women’s side. Picture: Ashley Allen/Getty Images.

Knight says England’s performances over the course of the tour have warranted the level of scrutiny.

“I think the way we’ve performed and the results this series, you come to expect that sort of scrutiny and pressure, there’s no doubt there has been a lot of noise,” she said.

“I think individuals deal with it differently, some will try to ignore it and some will do everything they can to turn it around, some will use it as motivation and I think that’s an individual thing.

“I guess the way the results have gone there’s bound to be some criticism and that’s completely fair – it’s our job to turn things around and have some success this week.

“There’s a huge amount of motivation in the group to try and bring our best game, try and turn things around and take something home from the backend of this tour.”

England captain Heather Knight says she will use the mass scrutiny of her side as motivation this week. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Knight, 34, says her role as captain makes avoiding criticism difficult but believes she’s at her best when under fire.

“I think it’s quite hard to ignore it when you obviously have to come to the press and speak about things,” she said.

“I am probably someone that is at my best when I have got a bit of a point to prove I guess, and I certainly have one this week, hopefully I can put in a really good performance for the side over the next four days.”

England go into the final match of the series down 12-0 and on the cusp of a historic whitewash.

Knight denies avoiding a whitewash as motivation but expects the “really disappointed” and “hurting” team to produce a much stronger performance.

“We haven’t played our best cricket at all as a side, we haven’t shown what we’re about and the next four days is a chance to do that,” she said.

Alyssa Healy and Heather Knight ahead of the historic day-night Test match at the MCG. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“For us to show everyone exactly who are we as cricketers and who we are as people, there’s a lot of character in that group.

“We’re obviously hurting from quite a tough tour to this point and we haven’t put out our best cricket.

“We’re seeing this as a one-off Test match, show exactly what we can do, show off our skill and try and fight really hard to perform really well in this fixture.”

Originally published as Why England skipper Heather Knight will use ‘completely fair’ criticism as motivation