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Nat Sciver-Brunt, the captain of England women’s cricket team, has been ruled out of the final two T20Is of the five-match series against India at home. After suffering a groin injury in the second Women’s T20I (WT20I) earlier this week, the 32-year-old didn’t play in the third WT20I, but in her absence, the stand-in captain, Tammy Beaumont, led England to a five-run victory over India on Friday, July 4, from a hopeless situation at The Oval in London, to keep the series alive at 2-1.
With this latest development, Nat Sciver-Brunt won’t be taking the field for England in the fourth WT20I on Wednesday, July 9, followed by fifth and final WT20I of the series on Saturday, July 12. At the same time, the report from BBC Sport indicates that she might get fit for the subsequent Women’s ODI (WODI) series against India which will begin on July 16, which will serve as the final preparation for them for the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 in September.
England aim for comeback in WT20I series against India in final two matches
As far as the ongoing WT20I series is concerned, India were tasked to chase the 172-run target against England, and at one stage, they were nicely placed at 123/1 in 13 overs. But then, some exceptional bowling from the England lineup, in spite of the lot of drop catches, didn’t allow the Indian batters to collect boundaries at crucial stages, which proved to be fatal as they lost the contest by a close margin.
After winning the first two T20Is quite convincingly, the Indian women’s cricket team will be quite dejected about failing to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series despite being in a great position to do so. With that, the upcoming fourth match at Old Trafford will be massive not just for England, but also India, to close out the series before they travel to play the fifth match at Edgbaston.
England’s squad for the fourth and fifth WT20I against India:
Tammy Beaumont (c), Em Arlott, Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Amy Jones, Paige Scholfield, Linsey Smith, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Issy Wong, Maia Bouchier
