Women's T20 World Cup: Heather Knight reflects on England's exit
- Published
Knight calls for rule change after England's T20 World Cup elimination
Heather Knight hopes a change in the rules will prevent other teams enduring a "horrible" tournament exit after England were eliminated from the T20 World Cup without a ball being bowled in their rained-off semi-final against India.
With no reserve day scheduled, India progressed to Sunday's final by virtue of a better record in the group stages, having topped Group A.
"I don't want any other team to go out in this fashion," said England captain Knight, whose side were runners-up in Group B.
"It is what was signed up to, to not have reserve days, but hopefully that will change.
"We've been bridesmaids before but to lose out to rain is a new feeling."
Each cricket board signed up to playing conditions that stated there was no reserve day for the knockout stages.
There is a reserve day for the final in Melbourne.
"As players, we don't know anything about the reserve days - it's up to the boards and those way above our pay grade to sort those out," Knight said.
"There's frustration and we're disappointed but we have to move on quickly."
Rain ruins England's bid for place in T20 World Cup final
England were left to rue their narrow opening defeat by South Africa, which meant they could not top the group.
India went through the group stages unbeaten, while South Africa won three matches before their final game against West Indies was rained off.
"We didn't top our group, which was in our hands," Knight, 29, said.
"It's a horrible way to exit a tournament. It's going to be a bitter pill to swallow for a few of us for a while."
England have not won the tournament since the inaugural edition in 2009, although they have reached the final three times since then.
They came back well from their opening loss and appeared to be growing in confidence as the tournament progressed.
Natalie Sciver finished as England's leading run scorer with 202 - and currently leads the table - with Knight, who scored her maiden T20 century against Thailand, second on 198 runs.
Left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone has also impressed, moving to the top of the T20 bowling rankings after taking eight wickets at an average of 6.12.
Knight also praised Lisa Keightley, who was overseeing the tournament as England head coach for the first time.
"Lisa's very relaxed in how she goes about things, and that's the style I've quite enjoyed working with," Knight added.
"I feel we've built a good relationship."