In a ground-breaking development, London Spirit have announced that Heather Knight will continue to lead the team in 2026, via an AI Persona trained on the captaincy decisions she took in her ten years at the helm of England.

Ball-by-ball info from NV Play has been fed into the project, detailing every bowling change and key fielding positions, including cover and deep extra cover.

Despite Knight herself not taking the field in 2026, having been elevated to the position of General Manager, the captaincy choices she would have made will be relayed to an on-field deputy via the intriguingly named “Project Gaslight” which beams subliminal instructions to the on-field skipper directly from The Cloud.

This is understood to get around the ICC’s ban on the use of on-field communications devices because there is no actual “communication device” – merely a beam of information directly from a server, based for legal reasons in Azerbaijan.

Jon Lewis, Head Coach of London Spirit, said:

“Heather is probably the most brilliant captain the world has ever known. Having myself pioneered the use of AI in selection during the Women’s Ashes triumph of 2023, when I led England to an unprecedented moral victory by drawing the series 8-all, I knew immediately that this was the answer to all my problems.”

“I was inspired and entertained by the opportunity to work with this system, and I’m sure the fans will be too.”

The technology was developed by the Tech Titans Group, led by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who purchased London Spirit for £145m last summer.

Dr April Fulio, head of the Advanced AI Lab at the University of George Washington State in Seattle, said:

“Project Gaslight is bleeding-edge tech; but we’re hoping that the bleeding will be fixed in time for the opening match at Lord’s in August.”