Cliff Notes – Grace Scrivens to captain England A in four-day tour finale
- Grace Scrivens, 21, will lead England A’s red-ball team in a four-day match against Australia A in Sydney, following her successful T20I captaincy earlier in the tour.
- Despite not yet making her full England debut, Scrivens is viewed as a potential future captain, having previously led the Under-19 team to the T20 World Cup final in 2023.
- The series finale, taking place from April 12-15, has a winner-takes-all element, with no official points at stake in the multi-format series.
Grace Scrivens to captain England A in four-day tour finale
Grace Scrivens will be given another chance to enhance her captaincy credentials as she leads England A’s red-ball team in their four-day match against Australia A in Sydney this week, at the conclusion of their multi-format series.
Scrivens, 21, was handed the captaincy of the T20I leg of the seven-match tour, and succeeded at the first attempt where her senior counterparts had failed in their Women’s Ashes whitewash earlier this year.
England A won that opening match of the series by three wickets at Hurstville Oval in Sydney, with Scrivens herself making 35 from 38 balls, before the remaining two matches were washed out.
Hollie Armitage, Durham’s captain, then took over the reins for the three 50-over matches that followed, with England’s thrilling one-wicket win in Monday’s third ODI leaving the teams with two wins each in the four completed games so far.
Although there are no official points at stake in the multi-format series, the series finale has an element of winner-takes-all to it, and will take place at cricket Central from April 12-15.
Scrivens, Essex’s captain, has yet to make her full England debut and so is unlikely to be considered as Heather Knight’s replacement, following the latter’s removal from the role after a nine-year tenure.
However, Scrivens is widely considered as an England captain in the making, having led the Under-19 team to the T20 World Cup final in South Africa in 2023. Andy Tennant, her director of cricket at Essex, recently described her as “the English Graeme Smith”, in reference to the South Africa captain who led his side for 11 years after taking over at the age of 22 in 2003.
With Charlotte Edwards now installed as England’s head coach, a new captain is due to be announced ahead of the team’s first series of the summer, against West Indies in May. Nat Sciver-Brunt, the current vice-captain, is currently on maternity leave following the recent birth of her son, Theodore.