Knight 'delighted' to find batting rhythm after long absence

January 17 of this year was the last time Heather Knight walked out to the middle for a one-day international innings, in Hobart, Australia.

She suffered a significant tendon injury to her hamstring in May, keeping her out of cricket for an extended period.

But Knight is officially back, steering England to victory against Bangladesh at the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup. She scored an unbeaten 79 from 11 balls in Guwahati, but the numbers don't do justice the significance of her knock.

In trying conditions and against good bowling, Knight was made to fight for every run while consistently losing wickets at the other end.

Piece by piece, her innings came together as Bangladesh's hopes continued to fade the deeper England's run chase went. In the end, it was a four-wicket win as the English successfully reached their target of 179 with four overs to spare. Knight had the experience and wherewithal to prioritise her wicket at all cost, even while scoring screeched to a hault.

"I think sometimes in those conditions it's just about having a bit of time there to get used to it," she told media post-game.

"(I) definitely didn't find it my most fluent, particularly at the start. It was just sort of a case of trying to get through. Really pleased to obviously do that in a huge game, (a) World cup game, under a huge amount of pressure as well. Trying to find your method quite quickly, trying to find your footwork.

"So yeah, it was always going to take a little bit of time to get my feet ... pretty delighted that I was able to do that. And I think with the more aggressive shots, it was just trying to pick a time to do that. (There were) times where it was a bit slower, maybe a bit more turn (and) I had to sort of rein it in, but just pleased that I finished it off.

"So there wasn't an exact moment, but I started to feel in (a) groove, in that rhythm, particularly in that middle period in that partnership with Charlie (Dean).

"Really obviously rode my luck a little bit with the overturned decisions and things like that. And obviously losing those wickets. I knew that if we had a set batter that was able to bat through, I probably had to be a little bit more attritional than I would have liked. But, yeah, I started to find my feet and my rhythm in that middle period, which was really nice.

"Obviously, the hardest thing sometimes coming back from injury is that sort of rhythm of batting in the middle can take a little bit of time to get back. So delighted that I was able to spend a little bit of time out there, get through that pressure."

Knight's instant return to form is a huge boost to England's World Cup hopes.

They move to two wins from two games, on top of the standings after two rounds of World Cup matches, ahead of their date with Sri Lanka in Colombo on Saturday.

England Squad: Nat Sciver-Brunt (c), Em Arlott, Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Heather Knight, Emma Lamb, Linsey Smith, Danni Wyatt-Hodge