Top Ad
I DIG Radio
www.idigradio.com
Listen live to the best music from around the world!
I DIG Style
www.idigstyle.com
Learn about the latest fashion styles and more...

'Sign me up for more games' - Natalie Sciver relishes role as stand-in captain

Written by 
Published in Cricket
Sunday, 07 March 2021 03:15

Natalie Sciver thoroughly enjoyed a first taste of international captaincy, saying her side made the job easy as she oversaw England's 3-0 sweep of the T20I series against New Zealand.

When Anya Shrubsole was ruled out with a knee injury, Sciver was handed the role of vice-captain for the tour, to glowing approval from regular captain Heather Knight, who said at the time: "There's no doubt Nat is a huge leader in the group for us." When Knight was ruled out of the final fixture because of a hamstring problem, Sciver had to bring her leadership skills to the fore and she relished the opportunity as England sealed a 32-run victory over New Zealand with 12 balls to spare on Sunday.

"Sign me up for some more games," Sciver beamed. "It's been brilliant. With everyone contributing like that, it's an easy game.

"Yesterday, Heather pulled up not so well after the last game, so I found out yesterday [that I would be leading the team today]. I had a maybe a sleepless hour when I was trying to get sleep but as soon as the warm-up was done I was all right."

Having gone 2-0 up in the preceding ODI series, England were disappointed to have dropped the third game, which New Zealand won by seven wickets, and the tourists set their sights on sweeping the T20s.

Tammy Beaumont carried on her excellent form from the ODIs, where she was the leading run-scorer, to be named Player of the Series for the T20s, again topping the run-scoring charts with 102 at an average of 34.00 and strike rate of 100.99. But when she, fellow opener Danni Wyatt and Sciver all fell cheaply on Sunday, two players trying to establish themselves as regulars in the team shone with the bat.

Fran Wilson, playing her first match of the series, top-scored with an unbeaten 31 off 23 and Sophia Dunkley, coming in a No.4 where Knight would normally be, added a valuable 26 off 29 deliveries. Dunkley did not bat in the first match as England won by seven wickets and was not out on nought when they won the second by six wickets.

"As soon as she heard the news, she was a bit shocked," Sciver said of the moment Dunkley learned she had been promoted up the order from No. 6. "But then I think she managed to get her head around it.

"It does get harder in T20 when you go in at five, six and seven, where you might only have two balls or ten balls or whatever it is. So, yes, it's great for her to get a chance and really show us that she can do it.

"It's so hard to go through a tour when you're not sure if you're going to play and then you don't really get the opportunity to bat in the game... Fran was really key, to be in at the end was was brilliant, so she took on her role really well."

But it was England's bowling contingent who were most impressive in the final match, with six different bowlers among the wickets as New Zealand were bowled out for 96 in 18 overs in reply to England's 128 for 9. Young offspinner Mady Villiers claimed career-best figures of 3 for 10 from two overs, but Katherine Brunt was named Player of the Match after dismissing both openers, Sophie Devine and Hayley Jensen, for ducks in the first over of New Zealand's chase before finishing with figures of 2 for 19 from four overs.

Sophie Ecclestone ended with identical match figures to Brunt, while Freya Davies, Sarah Glenn and Sciver all chimed in with a wicket each.

Sciver said Brunt, her fiancee who returned after missing the second match with a head cold and ended the series with four wickets at an economy rate of 4.17, had been bowling as well as she had done for some time.

"She has been brilliant," Sciver said. "She's been terrorising people in the nets. You don't want to sign up to face her at training sessions, so it's great for her to get some reward out there on the pitch.

"Sometimes she doesn't quite have the luck go with her, or the decisions, so I'm really pleased that she managed to, throughout the tour, pick up wickets where she can and today was really important for us and she did the job."

Villiers had only bowled four overs across the first two matches for one wicket, so Sciver was happy about her return as she continues to forge a three-pronged spin attack with Glenn and Ecclestone.

"It's so good, just to have a legspinner, a left-arm spinner and an offspinner who all have got amazing talent and can come in and do a job for us at any point," Sciver said. "Mady's had to wait her turn a little bit but she did brilliantly today."

Valkerie Baynes is a general editor at ESPNcricinfo

Read 290 times

Soccer

FIFA donates $50m for Qatar World Cup legacy

FIFA donates $50m for Qatar World Cup legacy

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsFIFA launched a $50 million legacy fund for social programmes on We...

Guardiola sorry for self-harm remark after draw

Guardiola sorry for self-harm remark after draw

EmailPrintManchester City boss Pep Guardiola has apologised for suggesting he wanted to hurt himself...

Guardiola's new Man City deal means nothing if stars don't sign extensions, too

Guardiola's new Man City deal means nothing if stars don't sign extensions, too

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsManchester City did the easy part by having manager Pep Guardiola s...

2026 FIFA


2028 LOS ANGELES OLYMPIC

UEFA

2024 PARIS OLYMPIC


Basketball

KD, Beal return as Suns' big 3 leads rout of Lakers

KD, Beal return as Suns' big 3 leads rout of Lakers

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsPHOENIX -- Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant each scored 23 points and...

Giannis out vs. Heat due to pregame knee issue

Giannis out vs. Heat due to pregame knee issue

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsMIAMI -- Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is out for Tues...

Baseball

Champion Dodgers adding Snell, sources say

Champion Dodgers adding Snell, sources say

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsFree agent left-hander Blake Snell and the Los Angeles Dodgers have...

Dodgers split $46M from record MLB playoff pool

Dodgers split $46M from record MLB playoff pool

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsNEW YORK -- A full postseason share for the World Series champion L...

Sports Leagues

  • FIFA

    Fédération Internationale de Football Association
  • NBA

    National Basketball Association
  • ATP

    Association of Tennis Professionals
  • MLB

    Major League Baseball
  • ITTF

    International Table Tennis Federation
  • NFL

    Nactional Football Leagues
  • FISB

    Federation Internationale de Speedball

About Us

I Dig® is a leading global brand that makes it more enjoyable to surf the internet, conduct transactions and access, share, and create information.  Today I Dig® attracts millions of users every month.r

 

Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: www.idig.com
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Affiliated