Knight to undergo scans on hamstring injured during unbeaten 66 in third and final T20I
Valkerie Baynes27-May-2025Alice Capsey has been called up to the England Women’s ODI squad to face West Indies as cover for Heather Knight, who was struck down by a hamstring problem during her half-century at Chelmsford, which helped seal a 3-0 sweep of the T20I series between the sides.The home squad will also be bolstered by pace bowler Lauren Filer, who has returned to action after a knee injury sustained during the Ashes in January, and will be available for the first of the three games, in Derby on Friday.Knight was set to undergo scans on her right hamstring on Tuesday. She battled through obvious discomfort towards the end of her unbeaten 66 off 47 balls at Chelmsford the previous day, and did not take the field for West Indies’ innings.Knight was the standout performer in an England side that reached 144 for 5 before Lauren Bell, Em Arlott, Linsey Smith and Charlie Dean shared the wickets evenly to restrict West Indies to 127 for 8. This was despite another lone hand from captain Hayley Matthews.Related
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Capsey, batting for the first time in the series, only managed 4 before she was caught by Realeanna Grimmond to give Jahzara Claxton her maiden international wicket. It was the first real test of England’s line-up after they had conceded just three wickets across the previous two games.The victory completed a first series win for Nat Sciver-Brunt as captain after she replaced Knight in the aftermath of England’s failed winter Ashes campaig. She praised her predecessor for punching through the pain to take her side to a competitive total in the face of Matthews’ 3 for 32 and an impressive debut by Claxton, who claimed 1 for 15 from her four overs.”Her innings was pretty special to get us up to that total, being a competitive and winning score in the end,” said Sciver-Brunt, who was England’s next-best batter for the match with 37 off 40. “That just shows her class and experience.”There were echoes of the T20 World Cup, when Knight was injured while batting and England went on to drop five catches – ending their campaign in the group stage with a loss to West Indies – as the hosts put down three chances in as many balls on Monday.Sciver-Brunt grassed the first of those, a sitter at midwicket that would have removed Grimmond off the bowling of Dean, who missed a return catch next ball. But Sciver-Brunt ended up taking a screamer at mid-off to remove Jannillea Glasgow off the bowling of Arlott after England quickly restored order in the field.”We probably didn’t have our best fielding day… compared to the first two games where we were very good,” she said. “It is hard to get a clean to sweep on fielding, I suppose, and to keep those standards high, but that’s what we’re pushing for, that’s what we’re driving for.”Filer will be joined in the bowling ranks by fellow seamers Kate Cross and 19-year-old Mahika Gaur, who were named in the ODI squad only for the visit from West Indies while Issy Wong makes way after being picked purely for the T20I leg in which she collected two wickets from two games at 22.50 and an economy rate of 5.62.Allrounder Sciver-Brunt announced before the series started that she would play as a batter only against West Indies and remains uncertain as to when she might return to bowling as she continues her comeback from a long-standing Achilles tendon issue. India tour England in June and July and Sciver-Brunt said she was “definitely planning on bowling during the World Cup” in India later in the year.”I’m feeling pretty good physically,” she said. “Really happy with how I got through that series and I guess performance-wise with the bat, a bit up and down, but, being the first three games that I’ve played in a while, I’m pretty happy with that.”Sciver-Brunt scored 92 runs across three T20I innings, including a decisive 55 not out as England took an unassailable 2-0 lead at Hove.England’s top order will likely include Emma Lamb, included in the ODI squad at the expense of Maia Bouchier after an excellent start to the domestic season, in which she leads the one-day run-scorers’ list.Sciver-Brunt said new head coach Charlotte Edwards’ emphasis on domestic form as a selection tool appeared to be having a positive impact on the England squad already: “When I look around at the nets, there looks to be a lot of people who are high on confidence with their batting and bowling as well, so I guess it’s slightly different having that experience playing up until now.”