It's Bat-woman! 会合,会う Nat Sciver, the 未来 of women's cricket in England ?

  • England's Nat Sciver is one of the brightest young 星/主役にするs of women's cricket
  • The 22-year-old considers herself to be the biggest hitter in the game
  • Sciver grew up playing football before?switching?careers to cricket?

The most exciting all-一連の会議、交渉/完成する talent in English and perhaps world women’s cricket was born in Tokyo and played football in a ポーランドの(人) 青年 league before finally taking up the game that would make her 指名する.

That most cosmopolitan of しつけs was the result of her mother working for the 外務省. But Nat Sciver is very much a 製品 of Surrey, Loughborough University and an ever 拡大するing English 始める,決める-up.

Now she is at the 最前部 of a group of young players, which 含むs Kate Cross and Tash Farrant, who will carry the 旗 for a professional England team as they 試みる/企てる to 設立する cricket as the No 1 choice for エリート sportswomen.

Natalie, or Nat, Sciver was born in Tokyo and played football in a Polish youth league before taking up cricket

Natalie, or Nat, Sciver was born in Tokyo and played football in a ポーランドの(人) 青年 league before taking up cricket

Charlotte Edwards, England’s long-serving and 優れた captain, is still the 直面する of women’s cricket. But it is the new 産む/飼育する who will 決定する the long-称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 profile of the English game, not least the engaging Sciver.


Sciver, 22, is a batting all-rounder good enough as a seam bowler to take a hat-trick in a Twenty20 international against New Zealand.

Crucially, she is as powerful a striker of a ball as any woman in world cricket.

重要な 投資 in the women’s game has seen the England team make 広大な/多数の/重要な strides, but one of the biggest 批評s of them has been their 欠如(する) of real strength, a failing summed up by their 無(不)能 to 定期的に (疑いを)晴らす the ropes.

That is where Sciver comes in. When she played tennis she struggled to keep the ball in play and when she plays ゴルフ she 定期的に 運動s the ball as far as most men. Most importantly, she can give a cricket ball a real whack.

The 22-year-old considers her powerful striking of the ball to be one of her best strengths

The 22-year-old considers her powerful striking of the ball to be one of her best strengths

‘I’d like to think I’m the biggest hitter around,’ said Sciver coyly during one of England’s 正規の/正選手 training 開会/開廷/会期s at Loughborough.

‘We’ve put やめる a bit of 強調 on powerful striking, not やむを得ず hitting sixes, but everyone has been working hard on the technique of that.

‘It’s one of my strengths which I want to use in a game more often.

‘When I played tennis I couldn’t keep the ball in the 法廷,裁判所 but luckily there are no 制限s in cricket. I guess I’m 自然に strong.’

Strength is what England need. They have led the way in many of the 改良s in the women’s game but their 欠如(する) of 集団の/共同の 力/強力にする was summed up by the fact that they did not 攻撃する,衝突する a 選び出す/独身 six between them in the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh in March and April. ‘The game is moving 今後 so quickly that this was always something we’d need to work on,’ said Sciver. ‘You can’t stand still.

‘Women’s cricket is getting more and more 競争の激しい and we have to keep up.

Sciver celebrates taking a wicket against South Africa during the WT20 semi-final in Bangladesh

Sciver celebrates taking a wicket against South Africa during the WT20 半分-final in Bangladesh

‘We’ve taken a bit of baseball, both the technique and using the whole 団体/死体, and it’s something we’ve been working on for a few months.

‘It’s hard to tell how far I can 攻撃する,衝突する it now because I’ve only got the hall at Loughborough to go by but it’s something I want and need to take into games.’

It has been やめる a 旅行 for Sciver to where we are now, at the ECB 業績/成果 Centre at Loughborough where she has 熟考する/考慮するd for the last three-and-a-half years and now 株 a house with four other England cricketers.

She spent the first two years of her life in Japan before a 簡潔な/要約する return to England and then a 長引かせるd (一定の)期間 in Europe which saw her family based in Holland 同様に as Poland. Sciver played football competitively and tried her 手渡す at other sports before settling on cricket when returning home for good at 14.

‘It has been brilliant,’ she says of her cricketing 転換.

‘My dad played at school and university and every summer after he left Cambridge he would have this 週末 where he would get 支援する together with his mates and play.

Next on the agenda for Sciver is a tour of New Zealand, while another Ashes series awaits England’s women

Next on the 協議事項 for Sciver is a 小旅行する of New Zealand, while another Ashes series を待つs England’s women

‘I used to go along with him and join in but they didn’t like it when a girl got them out!

‘So I started 適切に at Stoke D’Abernon because it was the only club with a women’s section 近づく where I lived and I was lucky enough to have a Surrey coach. I was put 今後 for a 裁判,公判 and I went through the 郡 system.’

She made her England debut just 18 months ago but has already become a 重要な performer in all 判型s, while cricket became her career in May when the ECB took the momentous step of making the エリート players 十分な-time.

Next on the 協議事項 for Sciver is February’s 小旅行する of New Zealand, while another Ashes series を待つs England’s women 同様に as men this summer.

‘Professional 契約s have been a 抱擁する step not just for women’s cricket but women’s sport,’ said Sciver. ‘We’re standing on our own two feet which is really nice and there’s more and more 開発 through the pathways and grass-roots. It’s growing all the time and it’s a really exciting time to be 伴う/関わるd.

As well as working on her hitting, Sciver wants to get faster with the ball - closer to the 75mph mark

同様に as working on her hitting, Sciver wants to get faster with the ball - closer to the 75mph 示す

‘It has made everyone a bit more 競争の激しい and the 戦う/戦い for places is brilliant. You have more time to work on the game rather than having to work, too. I’ve got six months left on my 熟考する/考慮するs [she is doing a sports and 演習 熟考する/考慮するs degree] and have been balancing cricket and uni for a while now. Loughborough have been very 融通するing a nd I’ve sat exams in Bangladesh and Australia の中で other places.’

同様に as working on her hitting, Sciver wants to get faster with the ball and hopes to move に向かって the sort of 速度(を上げる)s, 75 miles per hour 加える, that have made her house-mate, Katherine Brunt, England’s fastest bowler.

‘I’ve been playing in the England 始める,決める up for a year-and-a-half now and hopefully this isn’t it yet,’ she said.

‘It has gone pretty 井戸/弁護士席. I 港/避難所’t had a 負かす/撃墜する (一定の)期間 yet but, touch 支持を得ようと努めるd, the only way is up.’

She is certainly one to watch.

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