London: World top-ranked allrounder and batter in ODIs, Nat Sciver-Brunt returned to England’s ODI squad against Sri Lanka as a proper batter and showed her dominance with the bat.
The England all-rounder made her 100th ODI appearance against Sri Lanka in the third ODI, and made a historic 120 off 74 deliveries, at Leicester, recording the fastest century in women’s One-Day International cricket off 66 balls as England beat Sri Lanka in the third ODI by 161 runs to clinch a 2-0 series win.
When asked in the post-match presentation ceremony about not bowling any overs, Sciver-Brunt stated a reason, “to give chance to young seamers like Mahika Gaur and Lauren Filer an opportunity to showcase their ability and skills,” as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“The plan is to be back for the India series in December,” Sciver-Brunt said at the post-match presentation after England won the third and final match, reduced to 31 overs a side by rain in Leicester, by a massive 161 runs.
“The decision not to bowl post-Ashes, I guess, was more to give the body a bit of a rest and to train without having to rush around and do everything all the time, so it was quite nice actually,” said Sciver-Brunt.
“But I’m looking forward to picking up the ball again. When you’re playing games I want to influence as much as I can in every part of the game. That’s the best part of being an all-rounder. Fielding and not being able to influence with the ball was a little bit frustrating but I was happy to have the body break,” she added.
The all-rounder suffered a knee injury during the Ashes Test against Australia in June after which she hasn’t bowled many overs for England and is eyeing to make a comeback against India as a bowler.
In Ashes, Scviver-Brunt in three T20Is bowled only six overs and 24 overs in ODIs and managed to get only 5 wickets. However, she was brilliant with bat and was named ‘England Player of the Ashes’ with 404 runs, averaging 57.71, including back-to-back hundreds.
England Women’s head coach, Jon Lewis at the post-match conference, cited team balance and shared workload as a reason to not ask Sciver-Brunt to bowl.
“She’s the best in the world in this format and she showed why today,” Jon Lewis said.
“We’ve just made the decision with Nat to again prioritize when she bowls, not only to give other people opportunity but to make sure that we have Nat as an allrounder for as long as we possibly can.
“That’s really important for this team. The balance that she brings to the team makes it much easier for me to put Charlie in the team and for me, that’s fantastic, especially when we’re going to the subcontinent.
“The fact that she can bowl seam in the Powerplay and do a really good job with the new ball makes it easier for me to select three spinners in the side, which is something that I really want to do in those conditions.”
–IANS
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