End of an era: Knight to be replaced as England women’s captain

Heather Knight is leaving her role as England women’s captain after nine years, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Saturday.

The 34-year-old Knight, who has captained her country in 199 matches since 2016 and led England to World Cup victory in 2017, will continue to play international cricket.

England coach Jon Lewis left his position on Friday following a 16-0 whitewash by Australia in this year’s Ashes series.

“Captaining my country for the last nine years has been the biggest honour of my life and I will look back on my tenure with an enormous sense of pride,” Knight said in a statement.

“Winning the ICC Women’s World Cup on home turf at Lord’s in 2017 will always be a huge highlight, but being a part of the huge steps forward made in the women’s game off the pitch brings me just as much pride.”

Knight has represented England in 14 tests, 149 one-day internationals (ODIs) and 129 T20 Internationals (T20Is), scoring five centuries across all formats and leading the team to 134 wins as captain.

They have struggled recently, however, being eliminated at the group stage of last year’s Women’s T20 World Cup before being humbled by Australia.