England captain Heather Knight is hoping that England’s tough warm-up schedule, which included defeats to the West Indies and India, will help them overcome their opening-game “hoodoo” which saw them lose their first match at both the last 50-over World Cups.

“In the ideal world we’d want to be winning those [warm-up] games,” Knight told CRICKETher on the eve of England’s WT20 opener against Sri Lanka. “But it is better for our preparation actually – not playing easy games that we win without being challenged or being tested.”

“The last 50 over World Cup we had really easy warm-up games – we breezed them and then and then we came under a little bit of pressure in the first game and weren’t quite ready for it, so I think we fact that we’ve been tested means we’ve had a taste of the conditions – we know exactly how we need to sharpen up and what areas we need to be better in.”

With Katherine Brunt out of the tournament, which Knight described as a “big loss”, she pretty much confirmed that Linsey Smith will open the bowling for England.

“The role she [Smith] played in the warm-ups and the KSL is why we picked her – bowling those difficult of overs at the top of the powerplay and towards the back end – something she has done very well in the warm-up games and in the KSL.”