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Heather Knight celebrates 300th cap with career best score; puts India under pressure in crucial World Cup match
Knight's 109 off 91 leads England to 288/8 in crucial World Cup match.
On her 300th international appearance, Heather Knight delivered the kind of statement innings that players dream about for such days. A brisk, commanding, game-changing 109 off 91 that powered her team to a formidable total of 288/8 against India at Indore. It was a landmark wrapped in authority, filled with shots that displayed her domination over the bowlers.
This was Knight’s third century in ODIs and her highest score in the format. The occasion on which it arrived makes it special. It is a pressure game in the World Cup against the hosts, India, in front of a buzzing away crowd. A milestone and a masterclass combined in one.
300 and still majestic
Knight’s day began as a celebration of endurance and ended as a reminder of excellence. She walked in with England progressing steadily and then stitched a 113-run partnership with Nat Sciver-Brunt to seize the momentum from India in the middle overs, setting up a total that looked a formidable one at the halfway stage. When she finally fell, the applause told the story; her 300th match was not just marked, it was owned.
The context elevates the feat further. Knight is now among a rare group of women cricketers to reach 300 international matches, joining an elite list that underlines longevity and impact. Doing it with a momentum-defining century in a World Cup fixture adds further significance.
India, to their credit, dragged the innings back towards the end. Deepti Sharma’s 4/51 checked the late surge from England, ensuring that 300 just stayed out of reach, keeping their hopes alive in a must-win affair. But even the late squeeze from India could not move the spotlight; it was Knight’s afternoon, statistically and symbolically.
Three hundred appearances in international cricket is a ledger of years, tours, injuries, and reinventions. Making it memorable with a century in a World Cup is the kind of narrative the sport rarely gifts. If England go deep in the tournament, they will likely trace the run back to Indore and Knight’s heroics in her 300th international appearance.
