The England all-rounder, Natalie Sciver is one of the star picks in The Hundred. She has been picked by Trent Bridge accompanying her fiancee Katherine Brunt. Natalie has revealed that when she was growing up, she had a poster of David Beckham on her wall, just like all of the teenagers in that age. She was inspired by Beckham every time as he was her sporting hero.
Here, Sciver is wanting to be an inspirational figure to the younger generation just like for her David Beckham has been for years. She perhaps is in the right position to do so as she is in her purple patch. Women’s cricket and sport, in general, is something you cannot ignore but also cannot fully develop skills in some time, its a process which has an unmatchable scope and flourishment. Sports changes a person by enhancing the personality and catalyses the sanity and spirit of living.
The 27 year English all-rounder and world cup winner says- “I was so lucky with how I started. I finished university and pretty much got handed a contract, I’ve never had to worry about the real world in my life, which is amazing. To see women’s sport growing and where it can go is really exciting.” Adding- “The England team has really connected to that, to make sure we’re accessible to young girls and boys for that matter. They love women’s cricket. If we can make that connection in the crowd and after the game, it’s really important to us. When I was younger I looked up to David Beckham. Wrong sport I know, but having that male role model was really important to me. Hopefully, I can be someone’s David Beckham in years to come.”
She also discusses the gap and bridging the gap of salaries between male and female counterparts in the sporting industry. Sciver admits she would like to see the gap reduced and believes that will happen in time.”It’s a difficult subject really. In terms of international cricket, England have come such a long way already,” she said.
“From where we started to where we are now, we’re so much further ahead. We’re only going to improve from there. Obviously we’d love to be a bit closer in terms of pay gaps and things. Sometimes it’s not realistic for those things to happen so soon.I’m assured things like that will get smaller in time. We can always hope for more. At the moment, at 27, I’m doing pretty well not thinking about the real world.”
“The Hundred is a chance for our game to go to the next level and make sure we have a bigger pool of players ready for the international game. From a women’s side of things it’s great there are eight teams, two teams more than the KSL. That’s more players being exposed to different pressures and making a step up from county cricket. I think it will still look a lot like T20. We had a couple of practice games last summer and apart from getting the hang of counting to five not six it’s pretty similar! “
Source: Nottinghampost.com
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