England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt admitted that her side showed promise in parts but couldn’t sustain pressure long enough as Australia chased down a tricky total to claim a six-wicket win in their World Cup clash.
“It’s been a while since the Ashes, and as a side, we’ve changed quite a lot,” Sciver-Brunt said after the match. “There were patches where we certainly put Australia under pressure. Starting off with the ball, we took a few wickets at a start and really put them under the pump. Obviously, they came back with a brilliant partnership to win the game. In moments, we were brilliant and on top of the game, unfortunately, we just couldn’t hold onto that.”
England’s innings was again defined by an inability to rotate strike consistently, especially through the middle overs. Despite losing fewer wickets than Australia, England’s scoring rate lagged behind.
“First of all, I’m really pleased for Tammy (Beaumont),” Sciver-Brunt said. “She’s been searching for a score so far in the tournament and had to work really hard on herself and her mindset. Really pleased to see her get through that opening spell and really get a good score. Obviously, we’d like a set batter going towards the end of the innings to help us accelerate.”
Sciver-Brunt credited Alana King for tightening the screws in the middle phase. “When you come up against Alana King in the middle overs, she had it on a piece of string. She bowled really well and challenged us a lot. She obviously made it very difficult for us to accelerate through that period.”
She added that the side is still trying to strike the right balance between building a platform and taking risks: “It’s a bounce isn’t it in 50-over cricket, going too early and them being all-our for 160 or 180 or trying to stay in the game for as long as possible and then the last ten overs went at around seven-an-half, a brilliant partnership between Alice (Capsey) and Charlie (Dean).”
Sciver-Brunt acknowledged the quality of Australia’s middle order, whose partnership turned the game decisively. “Australia bat very deep, that’s one of the great things about their side,” she said. “To take a few wickets is brilliant, but you still have brilliant batters coming in. Prolonging the periods where you can bowl in really good areas is really important. We did that for a bit, but probably not long enough.”
Asked about England’s batting discussions heading into the business end of the tournament, Sciver-Brunt emphasized the focus on partnerships and adaptability.
“We’ve had some brilliant opening partnerships recently, Amy (Jones) and Tammy have added 50-plus in the last couple of games, which is really important for setting up our innings,” she said. “All along we’ve spoken partnerships and the importance of that, and making them really big, over 100 runs partnerships, the way we want to play is that. Keeping wickets for the last 20 overs and then 10 overs and just keep working and reading the game.”
Reflecting on the playing surface, Sciver-Brunt noted differences from England’s previous match. “Yes, I think the pitch played a bit differently today. The soil was black soil this time, so there was a little bit of less bounce, less spin. Our spinners didn’t get as much turn as like time” she explained. “We’ll go to Visakhapatnam to play New Zealand and assess the conditions there to work out the best course of action on that wicket.”
Pressed on whether England could have approached the middle overs differently, Sciver-Brunt admitted the side is still fine-tuning its approach. “Kingy spell, trying to work out the best way to play her, that type of bowling. Typically, in the past, we’ve used a lot of paddles and sweeps against that sort of bowling, which we maybe didn’t today,” she said. “She was the biggest threat we were facing, so perhaps we needed to manage the scoring rate better from the other end.”
Sciver-Brunt hailed Beaumont’s innings as a positive sign heading into the semifinals. “Her intent was really good. In previous games, she might have been quite worried about getting out, it just shows her mental strength to get through the first few games like that and a lot of people talking about how she is getting out, so really pleased she was able to get through that period and take the game on,” she said.
Looking ahead to England’s final group match, she added, “We’ll approach it like any other match, we want to win. We haven’t been to Visakhapatnam, so working out the conditions there and working out how best we want to play, best use the wicket. Hopefully, going into the knockout stages with a win and taking confidence from that.”
Despite the loss, Sciver-Brunt’s tone remained measured and optimistic, England showed glimpses of their best cricket but fell short in sustaining pressure and converting starts into dominance. With one group game, England will aim to turn those “patches of brilliance” into a complete performance.
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