Christchurch: English skipper Heather Knight said on Saturday that she considered Australia as the favourites in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 and she is “not worried about a tag of reigning champions” on her own team. The 2017 winners will take on Australia in their opening match on March 5 in Hamilton. “I think five years is quite a long time in international cricket and obviously Australia have been the outstanding team throughout that period and, naturally, deservedly they go in as favourites,” Heather said in a virtual press conference. “I don’t think being defending champions hangs heavy at all on our shoulders. I think the tournament we had in 2017 will give a lot of the players confidence that they can deal with the ebbs and flows of the tournament and know how to be successful in World Cups. “We’ll be trying to take experience from that and we’re not too worried about having the tag of obviously being reigning champions,” she said. UNI BAV MR
