England’s build-up to the home T20 World Cup has been jolted by another setback for Nat Sciver-Brunt, who has been ruled out of the New Zealand ODIs with a calf injury and will also miss the T20I leg of that series and the one against India.
The injury comes just as England Women are due to play their first T20I for 10 months on May 20, the start of a six-match block that will shape their final preparations for next month’s World Cup. There is no suggestion at this stage that the calf problem will keep Sciver-Brunt out of the tournament, but it is another reminder of how central she is to England’s plans and how exposed they can feel without her.
Sciver-Brunt’s absence matters because England have already spent much of the year trying to settle the balance of their side, and the squad for this series more or less mirrors the one selected for the T20 World Cup. Last summer, she also missed time injured and did not bowl at all in the lead up to the 50-over World Cup, leaving England to manage without one of their most complete players at a critical point.
Charlotte Edwards has made clear that the next six matches are not just about winning games but about turning planning into practice before the tournament begins. England have been assessing how to fit their all-rounders and spinners into the best XI, and Edwards has selected three left-arm spinners in her T20 World Cup squad: Linsey Smith, Sophie Ecclestone and Tilly Corteen-Coleman. Charlie Dean also looks likely to fit into England’s strongest side, which makes it hard to picture four specialist spinners playing together.
That selection squeeze is part of why England will not want too many moving parts in the weeks ahead. Dani Gibson and Freya Kemp are both fit and can help cover Sciver-Brunt’s absence, while Kemp also offers a left-hander in the batting order and Gibson brings power down the order. Alice Capsey missed the first game of the summer through illness but was fit enough to play the final match of the ODI series against New Zealand, and Issy Wong missed out after discomfort in her hamstring before being available for the first T20I against New Zealand.
England have six T20Is before the World Cup to settle the side they trust most. Losing Sciver-Brunt for part of that stretch does not end the plan, but it does narrow the margin for error at exactly the point when England wanted answers, not more questions.
