This Ashes summer could see Nat Sciver-Brunt ascend to the very peak of the women’s game, writes Katya Witney.
Before 2022, Nat Sciver-Brunt was already England’s best player. Since then she has joined the ranks of the world’s elite. This summer may see her etch her name into the annals of the all-time greats.
A look at her numbers illustrates the rise. While her career numbers before the start of last year are far from to be sniffed at, an average of 38.85 from 68 innings, 2022 was her zenith. Since the start of last year, Sciver-Brunt has averaged 59.50 in ODIs. Only Beth Mooney has averaged more than Sciver-Brunt in that period (Mooney’s average is a ridiculous 99.0), with a ten-innings cut-off.
Reflecting on her golden run over the last 18 months, ahead of the start of the 2023 Ashes, she takes a typically modest view: “The way we play now there’s not much holding back,” she says. “Which I’m enjoying a lot.”
“I’ve done a lot of learning and a little bit of skill and technique changes from where I was at the start of my career. Since then I’ve learnt about building an innings, but building it in my own way. I try to keep parts of me that like to hit boundaries simmering down when I need to, but exploring that option more when I’ve got the opportunity.”
The start of Sciver-Brunt’s run-scoring spree can be pinpointed to the century she scored against Australia in Hamilton during that World Cup campaign. As those around her fell away, she dragged England to within fingertips of Australia’s target, falling agonizingly short.
Barely a month later, having spearheaded England’s effort with the bat as they pulled off a remarkable turn-around to their World Cup campaign, she was at the crease against Australia again. The innings she played in the final of the tournament in Christchurch eclipsed the one in Hamilton for class, and encapsulated the approach which has elevated her above the rest.
After 15 balls she had scored three runs. Off her 16th, she mowed a long hop from Alana King over deep-midwicket for six. She went on to register a near run-a-ball fifty, before reaching a ninety-ball hundred. England may have lost the final, but Sciver-Brunt’s magnificence that day has been ever-present since.
“It’s funny how it’s gone full circle,” she says. “But when I play my best I’m attacking and looking to hit the ball for boundaries. It’s using that at the right time, in the right place and in the right area. In the last couple of years, I’ve hit a bit of a sweet spot with that.”
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In the five ODI innings she has played after her hundred in the World Cup final, she has only failed to pass fifty once. In T20Is too, 2022 is a significant turning point. Before then Sciver-Brunt was averaging 24.82 in the format, but in the 18 innings she has played in the last 18 months that jumps to 37.46. More significantly, her strike rate has also increased from an accumulative 112.90 to a slightly more aggressive 121.75. In the WPL, where Sciver-Brunt was the joint most expensive overseas player sold, that acceleration was even more rapid.
She struck 332 runs in the tournament at a rate of 140.08 and recorded by far the best average of any batter in the competition at 66.40. In her latest T20 exploits, back in England ahead of the international summer, she scored 194 runs in four innings during the Charlotte Edwards Cup, including falling just short of a first T20 century, left hanging on 96*. Her strike rate in those innings? 174.77.
Far from plateauing after a successful spell, the trajectory of her scoring is on a firm upward slope. Part of what has allowed her to make this incline partially comes down to the influence of England’s head coach.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve made any technical changes,” says Sciver-Brunt. “It’s been more of the freeing mentality that Jon Lewis has given me and the rest of the team. We’ve been putting that into practice and trying to gauge when the right time is to attack and when’s the right time to hold back a bit.
“So it’s more marrying that aggressive intent up with trying to build an innings. From a batting perspective, I’ve really enjoyed that.
“It’s even with the ball that we’ve been given that freedom. Not a license but more of an attacking mentality of taking wickets all the time, and that allows you to go for things that you might not have been if you wanted to be a little safer before.”
The utility of an all-rounder who offers as much potential with both bat and ball cannot be overstated for any side, and Sciver-Brunt is an important cog in England’s bowling machine. She can offer both golden bursts of wickets and needed spells of calm, while also allowing England to play whatever depth of bowlers they choose. But that aggressive intent with the ball has seen her stats take a hit over the past two years.
Only Kate Cross has bowled more overs in ODIs than Sciver-Brunt among England seamers since January 2022, but no bowler who has featured in more than one innings in that time has a worse strike-rate (56.1). That stat is the same for her average (46.09) and her economy rate in 2022 (4.92) was the highest it’s been in her career since 2015.
As with many of the greatest players who excel in all disciplines, her exploits in one overshadow her achievements with the other. It’s as a batter she will achieve immortality, while continuing to plug away as a bonus bowler in England’s attack.
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The Ashes series presents a golden opportunity for Sciver-Brunt. She currently sits fifth in the England ODI run-scoring charts and is the only player inside the top seven to have played less than 100 games. You have to look all the way down to 23rd on the list (Wendy Watson, if you’re interested) to find a player with a higher average and no England player, with a ten innings cut off, has a higher strike rate.
In the T20I England scoring rankings, she sits fourth on 2,175 runs. She will surpass Sarah Taylor into third this summer, needing just two runs to do so. The only missing check from her T20I card is an illusive century. In this series, she has the chance to truly elevate herself to walk among the greats of the women’s game.
But first up is a much-awaited Ashes Test match. From Sciver-Brunt’s recent performances in the limited Test matches England women get to play, it’s a crying shame we don’t get to see more of her in whites. Her maiden century against South Africa at Taunton last year showed her as the most complete cricketer in England’s setup. She moulds herself into whatever is required from the format put in front of her in a way few in history have been able to do.
The mark of this chameleonic mastery is that, if England were to be faced with a T20 super over, Sciver-Brunt would not be far off the eye of her captain and coach to bat it out as at least the reserve option. In addition, if England need to bat out the fifth day at Trent Bridge to reach a draw against Australia, she would be the player most capable of making that happen.
At the start of a huge summer for England women, where they will play against the backdrop of full stadiums in a parallel Ashes to the men, Sciver-Brunt is at the top of the world. The next few months could see her truly conquer it.
