When Heather Knight almost misplaced the World Cup trophy

After England won the Ashes in 2013, the trophy was at her home for about ten weeks and the ECB had thought they had misplaced it. They eventually got it back after they asked around for it and came to know that it was in fact with Knight.

“Didn’t tell anyone until they asked for it.,” Knight told BBC Live Sport Specials with a chuckle.

After the Women’s World Cup win in 2017, Knight had almost misplaced the trophy.

“Unfortunately, it was my responsibility that it got misplaced. I was at The Oval a week later with a few friends for the tour of the hospitality boxes with the trophy,” she recalled.

“We managed to sit down for a couple of pints and enjoy the match. I passed on the (responsibility) of the trophy to the security guard whilst I was enjoying myself. A fair few pints later we went to check on the trophy and it had actually disappeared. I had a bit of panic. But luckily someone from the ECB had sensed danger and taken it back and looked after it.”

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In an earlier episode of the show, when asked about some of the measures in the post-CIVID world, Michael Vaughan, England’s former captain had suggested reducing the length of the pitch in women’s cricket to 20 yards, opining a fresh start for the game after a reset. But Knight offered her disagreement for the same.

“Obviously as professional cricketers, we have trained since we were 11 or 12 playing on a full-length pitch,” she said. “The skills you hone with that, the lengths the bowlers bowl, the trajectory spinners bowl, the little cues that you pick up as a batter are based on that full-pitch length. I think if you change that overnight, it would have a big impact on the game, probably detrimental effect on the game.”

Knight, who called herself a dreadful dancer and among the worst dressed, said that she has been living with her partner in Bristol off a suitcase with just a week’s clothes. She had watched the final of the T20 World Cup 2020, which she felt “was very surreal.”

“I was gutted we weren’t there. It was remarkable day to see 80000 (86,174) people there. I’ve only seen that for a Boxing Day Test.”

Knight, who became the first player to score a ton in each format in women’s cricket after her ton against Thailand in the T20 World Cup, said she is trying to make the most of her time home, given cricketers’ busy schedules.

“We spend a lot of time away from home as cricketers, so this feels good. I feel like a retired old lady a little bit actually. Doing a bit of gardening, cooking, going on long walks. Definitely trying to get used to a very different style of life. Trying to keep up the training, doing a lot of fitness work. It’s a bit hard not knowing what is to come and not having the fun stuff of playing cricket.”

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She has been managing to train and stay fit but added that she is missing her batting drills.

“I managed to get hold of my cricket kit which was sent to me from Loughborough. Hopefully I’ll be able to use that potentially next month when we start getting into cricket training. I just got sent a new bat by my sponsor but has been kind of torturous to see it just sitting by the ball and not giving it a go.”

When the pandemic broke out, Knight had volunteered to help the National Health Service (NHS). But she couldn’t sign up as they couldn’t verify her identity. Yes, her truckload of runs couldn’t come to her aid there.

“Since I had a lot of spare time in my hand I wanted to try and help out and hence signed up as a volunteer for NHS,” she revealed. “But unfortunately, they couldn’t verify my identity. It was a case of do you not know who I am,” she added with a laugh.

“You have to apply online and send them the ID. I sent a picture of my driver’s license, which has my home address in London. But I registered at my boyfriend’s address in Bristol. The addresses didn’t match up.”