Heather Knight says discussing her future as England captain “is not for now” with two matches remaining in the Women’s Ashes.
England lost the series after going down 10-0 on points, being swept 3-0 by Australia in the one-day international part of the tour before being beaten in the first two T20 international matches.
Knight hit 43 not out from 19 balls in Canberra on Thursday, only for England’s chase of 186 for victory to be destroyed by match-ending rain a ball into the final over as Australia triumphed by six runs off Duckworth-Lewis-Stern.
England have not won the Women’s Ashes since 2014 with Australia winning four and two series draws since then.
Their aim in the current competition is to avoid a whitewash, with another T20 international in Adelaide on Saturday and the day-night Test match in Melbourne on January 30 to come.
Knight, captain since 2016, said: “I guess in any leadership position you always feel responsible when teams don’t perform well.
“We haven’t performed as well as we would like, in every area. It’s certainly frustrating, but [my future] isn’t really a question at the moment.
“I’m focused on what we need to do to try to win the next game and try to turn things around. Whatever happens at the end of the tour, that will be a conversation for later.”
Knight: referees have the right to stop the match in case of rain
Knight cut an angry figure as umpires removed players from the field at Manuka Oval, seconds after she hit Annabel Sutherland for four runs back to reduce England’s requirement to 18 from the last five balloons.
But she later admitted that those responsible had made the right decision.
“It was the right decision by the umpires, 100 per cent,” added Knight, who had earlier seen Danni Wyatt-Hodge top-score with 52 off 40 deliveries.
“I was really in the zone trying to win us that game, and obviously frustrated that we came out, but it wasn’t at all because of the refs. It was pretty humid. Even when we were running, it was quite slippery.
“I felt like I could get us over the line. I felt really ready and I had some really good boundary options on a really good cricket wicket.
“It was an incredible crowd and they deserved to finish. You could hear the fans’ frustration that we were leaving.”
“We all want to play for England.”
England have focused on entertaining, attacking cricket since Jon Lewis became head coach in 2022, but they have not won an Ashes series or T20 World Cup in that time.
Knight: “We know it’s not as simple as just saying we want to entertain. We also want to win in the end’
Knight added: “It’s always a mantra that’s really important to this team. We’re always at our best when we try to take the game and enjoy it. But obviously there’s more to cricket than that.
“We know it’s not as simple as just saying we want to entertain. We also want to win at the end of the day.
“We didn’t do that on this trip, and a lot of players are frustrated and hurt because we didn’t do that.
“We are all really keen to play for England and represent a really special team.”
Women’s Ashes – results and schedule
All dates and times in the UK and Ireland
