England spinner Sophie Ecclestone believes vice-captain Charlie Dean is the right person to step in as captain when England take on Scotland at Headingley, Leeds, on Saturday, June 20, 2026, in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026.
England will be without regular captain Nat Sciver-Brunt for the next two matches after she suffered a calf injury again. The injury had already kept her out of England’s recent series against New Zealand and India, where Dean led the side and helped England win both series.
Sciver-Brunt looked in excellent form at the start of the World Cup. She scored an unbeaten 46 against Sri Lanka to help England cross the 200-run mark in the tournament opener. She then followed it up with a brilliant 48 against Ireland before retiring hurt because of the injury.
With Sciver-Brunt unavailable, Dean will once again take charge of the team. Ecclestone believes the change will not affect England much because Dean has already done the job recently and knows what is required.
“They are both quite chilled characters,” Ecclestone said. “There is not much of a difference between them.
“Charlie has been captain recently, so it is nice for her to not be coming in blindsided. It will be like a duck to water again I am guessing.
“It is not ideal for Nat to miss the next two games, but Deano is going to take charge, and it is really exciting for her to be back and captaining at the World Cup, it is really cool.”
England head into the match with confidence after winning both of their opening games. However, they know Scotland will be eager to cause an upset.
This will be the first time England and Scotland have faced each other in a World Cup match on English soil. The two teams know each other well, with several players having shared dressing rooms and played together in domestic cricket.
One player who stands out is Scotland spinner Kirstie Gordon, who represented England at the 2018 World Cup before changing to Scotland last year.
Ecclestone admitted it would feel strange to play against a former teammate. “It will be pretty weird,” she admitted.
“When we went to the West Indies in 2018, we were the spinners in the attack together, so it is weird for her to be playing for a different team.
“But she is a great bowler, so it is nice for her to get here with Scotland. We just want to stop her from taking wickets tomorrow night.”
Ecclestone believes Scotland have several players who can change a match and says England cannot afford to relax.
“I feel like Scotland are a force to be reckoned with. It is very fun to play against Scotland and Ireland and so to play them at the World Cup is exciting. It will be nice to take them on at Headingley tomorrow and hopefully get the win.
“They have Kirstie and obviously the Bryce sisters, who I have played with at different teams. They can take games away from their opponents and so we have to be at our best.”
Scotland come into the game after a narrow seven-run defeat to West Indies at the same ground on Thursday, June 18. Chasing 154, they fought hard but fell just short despite a strong effort from several batters.
Fast bowler Rachel Slater believes Scotland are now a much stronger side than the team that lost heavily to England at the previous T20 World Cup.
“I think we’re in a much better place now as a group than we were at that last World Cup, so I don’t think we were going to be like ‘oh that’s amazing what a day out’.
“I think we’re here to win as many games as we can and I think we’ve shown that in the first two games.
“So it’s exciting and it’s going to be a great day and a big occasion like always when you get to play big rivals, but I don’t think it was a case of ‘oh it’s going to be class what an experience’, we’re here to win and perform so it’s just another opportunity to do that.”
Scotland came close against the West Indies but a quick late innings from Stafanie Taylor and a slow start to their chase proved costly.
Slater said the team is learning that there is very little room for mistakes at the highest level of international cricket.
She added: “It’s still a pretty new experience to us to be playing at World Cup’s against the biggest teams in the world and the best players, and I think you just have to learn that you won’t get the same amount of chances, and good players will punish you if you make mistakes.”
England will start the match as favourites, but Scotland are determined to show they belong on the biggest stage and will be aiming to produce their best performance of the tournament.
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