Knight takes pride in memorable start to captaincy

Heather Knight admitted to nerves ahead of her first match since succeeding Charlotte Edwards as England captain but added that she also felt at ease stepping into the shoes of her record-breaking predecessor.

Knight made a winning start as England women beat Pakistan by seven wickets with 18.1 overs to spare in the first of three Royal London One-Day Internationals, at the Fischer County Ground in Leicester.

"It was a big day, a proud day for me and there were some nerves this morning, definitely," Knight said. "So it was nice to start with a win.

"But I didn't feel any extra pressure. Charlotte Edwards has been outstanding for English women's cricket but I always said from the outset that I would captain the side my way so the fact that I was following her was not something I was thinking about.

"And as a team we are all about looking forward rather than looking back."

Knight, who has captaincy experience with Berkshire in English domestic cricket and Hobart Hurricanes in the Women's Big Bash League in Australia, felt there were areas in which England need to improve, despite the ease with which they won.

In addition to her own unbeaten half-century, opener Tammy Beaumont made an international career-best 70.

"We need to sharpen up some of our fielding and we bowled a few too many wides, so there are things where we need to work on.

"But I was delighted for Tammy, who is beginning to look an established top-order player at home in international cricket."

Knight was pleased too for pace bowler Katherine Brunt, who became only the fourth England bowler to take 100 wickets in ODIs, having waited almost a year to complete the milestone.

"I'm really chuffed for Katherine because she was starting to think there was a curse on it in South Africa in the winter," Knight said.