Nat Sciver to resume her duties as England women’s team vice-captain

• Nat Sciver will be England’s vice-captain for T20 World Cup warm-up matches.
• She had been working as Heather Knight’s assistant at England’s home games.
• Knight is recovering from hip surgery and Sciver was sidelined due to illness.

Prior to next month’s T20 World Cup in South Africa, Nat Sciver will retake her position as England Women’s vice-captain.

Sciver took a vacation from her job as Heather Knight’s assistant in September and did not return for her comeback tour to the Caribbean, claiming she wanted to use that trip “to get back to enjoying my cricket and being able to express myself on the pitch, as I have done in the past.”

She accomplished that by scoring 90, 5, and 85 runs in her first three matches after rejoining the team, finishing as the series’ leading run-scorer as England defeated West Indies 3-0. During that time, along with Knight, acting deputy Amy Jones, and senior spinner Sophie Ecclestone, Sciver remained a member of the team’s off-field leadership group.

While Knight was recovering from hip surgery and Sciver was sidelined, Jones had made it obvious that she didn’t want the captaincy long-term while filling in as leader for the home white-ball series against India.

Sciver tweeted after the ECB’s announcement on Wednesday that he will take over as vice-captain: “Im glad to be in a better place to get back to being vice captain! And can’t wait to get back on the pitch with everyone.”

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Im glad to be in a better place to get back to being vice captain! And can’t wait to get back on the pitch with everyone ❤️ https://t.co/HTHoioC3N6

— Natalie Sciver (@natsciver) January 25, 2023

Sciver’s selection as Women’s ODI Player of the Year and ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year for 2022 coincides with the announcement.

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She played across all formats for England, scoring 1346 runs and grabbing 22 wickets. In the ODI World Cup final, she was 148 not out of 121 balls. She also produced an undefeated century in England’s opening tournament game, which they also lost to Australia.

That was followed by a sad fourth-place performance for the host nation in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where Sciver captained the team. Shortly after that, Sciver left the game due to emotional exhaustion.

In anticipation of three T20 World Cup warm-up games against New Zealand in South Africa, Sciver will retake the vice-skipper role. However, because these games are unofficial T20Is, she may not be able to play in all of them. Before the tournament starts on February 10, England will also compete in official ICC warm-up matches against South Africa and New Zealand.

The T20 World Cup begins with the host nation facing Sri Lanka in Cape Town, followed the next day by England’s first match against the West Indies in the afternoon at Paarl, and an evening encounter between Australia and New Zealand.

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