A calf injury suffered while playing in the domestic One-Day Cup on April 29 ruled Sciver-Brunt out of the whole of England’s competitive build-up to the tournament, which the hosts will open on June 12 against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston.
“There’s no sort of pressure to be an allrounder at this stage,” Sciver-Brunt told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve got a very balanced bowling attack that is covering a lot of bases, so there’s not any pressure for me to bowl in the tournament.
“But from a personal point of view, I’d like to be available to bowl a bit later on. There’s two warm-up games into the first match, which is three games over five days, so it’d be stupid of me to try and do everything all at once. Everything has gone to plan so far and all the sessions that I’ve done have been pain-free.”
Sciver-Brunt’s readiness will come as a relief to England, for on-field reasons as well as off. On Wednesday, she joined Lauren Bell and Sophia Dunkley in promoting a 17.6m by 44.6m display in London’s Piccadilly Lights. The display made them the first England cricketers, male or female, to appear on London’s Piccadilly Lights as part of the This Feels Different campaign by the ECB and Metro Bank, aimed at encouraging girls to play cricket.
But the fact her team were able, in her absence, to secure 2-1 T20I series wins against defending champions New Zealand and leading contenders India without her was also encouraging.
That’s not least because the practicalities of building up Sciver-Brunt’s bowling workloads in-tournament are, by her own admission, “not easy to predict” and a “day-by-day” prospect.
Bell has led the seam-bowling to great effect in her absence, particularly taking by wickets in the powerplay, which became a focus after last year’s 50-over World Cup.
“When I came back from the World Cup in India, I looked at my game and highlighted the powerplay,” Bell told ESPNcricinfo. “As an area as, I’m in the team to take powerplay wickets, I probably wasn’t delivering on that.
“And so I had a period between getting back from the World Cup and going to the WPL, maybe two or three months of training, and you don’t get that that often. So I had a really big training block of working on the powerplay stuff. I’ve worked really hard and I guess I have more clarity on what I’m trying to do.”
Bell had been England’s sole specialist seamer for the last two games against India, with Issy Wong playing only the first after two against New Zealand and Lauren Filer none of the T20Is.
The successful return of allrounders Dani Gibson and Freya Kemp from back injuries helps bolster England’s seam options, even if just for a handful of overs between them. Sciver-Brunt was impressed with the road they had travelled to make it back in time for the World Cup, while being thankful that her injury wasn’t more serious.
“The resilience that they’ve shown at such a young age is really special and inspirational,” Sciver-Brunt said. “It’s going to make for a few headaches in selecting that XI but, having had quite a long time in the England team without loads of seaming allrounders, it’s a brilliant place to be in.”
“When it happened, in my mind – I’ve not had a calf niggle before – but I was like, ‘oh, my calf’s a bit sore,’ I was sort of playing it down, I suppose, but the goalpost never got to missing any of the World Cup,” she added.
“From that point of view, I felt confident that I was always going to be a part of it. Obviously, things can change very quickly, but I’m confident in my body so far that I’ll be ready.”
Meanwhile, England’s batters have stepped up, chiefly Alice Capsey, who made half-centuries as a stand-in opener against New Zealand as well as a match-winning No. 4 in the last match with India to stake her claim in the starting line-up. In that match, she shared a century stand with Heather Knight, whose timely 70 not out broke a run of middling scores.
Opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge is still settling in after a period of parental leave, while fellow opener Sophia Dunkley is hunting a big score. England’s other top-order option, Amy Jones, scored a half-century at No. 3 against India in the first game.
Sciver-Brunt watched from the sidelines as her side, led admirably by stand-in skipper Charlie Dean, appeared to be hitting form at the right time.
“The first few games I was a bit jealous,” Sciver-Brunt said. “Frustrating that I was on the sidelines, but getting to watch everybody with a different lens and taking in things that I wouldn’t be able to whilst being out there on the pitch with everybody, has been really nice.”
Sciver-Brunt has had plenty of time to think about what it would mean for a side which has underperformed on the big stage in recent times to lift the World Cup trophy in the final at Lord’s on July 5.
“What would it mean? That all of the hard work and everything that we’ve done in preparation was worth it, that we are the confident and successful team that we are,” she said.
“We show snippets of what we can be, but in a tournament [we] never quite get over the line in the close games. We have moments, but I guess it would be validation that we are a brilliant cricket team.
“It would mean a hell of a lot. I don’t know if I can put it into words. I have allowed myself to feel like I might lift the trophy, but once that tournament starts, it’ll be business as usual.”
Valkerie Baynes is a general editor, women’s cricket, at ESPNcricinfo
