England captain Heather Knight retired hurt during her side's final group game in the T20 World Cup after a top-order collapse rocked their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals
Knight found herself in early during England's innings, after they lost three wickets in 15 balls during the first seven overs of the match. Danni Wyatt-Hodge was out during the powerplay after hitting a back-of-a-length ball from Hayley Matthews to Deandra Dottin at point. Alice Capsey followed her in the next over after following through on an unwise run from the non-striker's end which saw her run out by a mile. Bouchier was the third wicket to fall, getting a leading edge and sending the ball straight up in the air, which brought Knight to the crease alongside Nat Sciver-Brunt.
The experienced duo set about batting England out of trouble, taking them from 34-3 at the beginning of the seventh over to 79-3 at the end of the 12th. However, taking a single off the first ball of Dottin's second over, Knight looked in discomfort running between the wickets and immediately called for the physio once she'd made her ground. The physio had been out the over before to attend to Knight, but this time the England captain had to leave the field to get treatment.
Amy Jones came out to replace her in the middle, but lasted only seven balls before she too lobbed a ball from Afy Fletcher to Dottin at backward point. That brought Charlie Dean out at No.6, who was dropped first ball by Chedean Nation at short fine leg.
Knight didn't come out after Dean was dismissed in the 17th over, with Danni Gibson instead sent to the middle. A statement from the England camp revealed Knight is suffering from 'calf tightness' and is being assessed. There was no information on whether she would take the field after England complete their batting innings. England have no official vice-captain, but Sciver-Brunt is likely to take charge if Knight is unable to play the rest of the match.
England are in a close to must-win scenario in this game to reach the semi-finals. A win would see them certainly go through while, depending on the total they set, even a narrow loss would see them eliminated.
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