Cliff Notes – Sciver-Brunt plays lone hand as England reboot gets a reality check
- England’s captain Nat Sciver-Brunt scored 66 runs, but the team was bowled out for just 113, marking their heaviest T20 defeat by 97 runs against India.
- India’s Smriti Mandhana dominated with a maiden T20I century, scoring 112 runs, supported by Harleen Deol’s 43, leading to a formidable total of 211.
- Sciver-Brunt emphasised the need for stronger partnerships and improved execution from her teammates to bounce back in the upcoming matches.
Sciver-Brunt plays lone hand as England reboot gets a reality check
Valkerie Baynes
CloseValkerie Baynes is a general editor at ESPNcricinfoJun 28, 2025, 11:02 PM
This was England’s wake-up call and if they are to do themselves justice in the second of five T20Is against India, as captain Nat Sciver-Brunt hopes, she is going to need support.
Sciver-Brunt played a lone hand with the bat, scoring 66 as wickets tumbled around her and England were bowled out for a meagre 113 chasing 211 in the opening match of the series at Trent Bridge.
England’s biggest partnership was 49, for the third wicket, with Sciver-Brunt scoring 37 of those and Tammy Beaumont 10. Only Em Arlott, at No. 7, joined them in reaching double figures.
That was after Smriti Mandhana, India’s acting captain, took apart the home bowling attack with a brilliant 112 in 62 balls, her maiden century in T20Is. She was well supported by Harleen Deol’s 43 off 23, their 94-run stand for the second wicket following a 77-run opening partnership with Shafali Verma.
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“When a team scores 200, you’ve got to have some really good partnerships in there when you’re batting and we lost wickets early, so it made it very difficult for us,” Sciver-Brunt said.
“They are obviously a world-class side with some amazing batters who, if you give a chance to, they’re going to punish you. We probably didn’t do ourselves justice in terms of the first innings so we’ll be looking to put a few things right and probably just tighten up a little bit in terms of our lines.
“I think the plans were right, but we probably just didn’t execute so we will review honestly and make sure that we’re confident going into that second game.”
Against West Indies, who failed to register a win from six games in the T20I and ODI series which preceded this one, Sciver-Brunt passed fifty three times. She scored 55 not out in the second T20, where England chased down a paltry target of 82 for the loss of just one wicket and her performance was overshadowed by Arlott’s 3 for 14 which decimated the visiting line-up.
In the ODIs, she managed 52 in Derby, a match dominated by a 222-run opening stand between Beaumont and Amy Jones and she scored 57 not out in the final game at Taunton with Beaumont rested and Jones dropped down the order to give someone else a go after another 200-plus partnership at the top in Leicester.
England expected India to be tougher opponents. The fact that the first loss for Sciver-Brunt as captain and Charlotte Edwards as head coach was this tough – defeat by 97 runs their heaviest in T20s – is a clear signal that they, or rather those around them, need to do more.
“One person can’t win a game, so it is all about partnerships with the bat and showing our physicality as well, making sure that we’re coming back for twos and keeping that energy high,” Sciver-Brunt said.
“That’s probably how we go about things the best. Everyone’s attitude I think was wanting to do that, we just didn’t execute with the bat either… When you’re chasing that you need someone to go big, but obviously some others to help around as well.
“Everyone’s trying their best. You can’t blame anyone that they haven’t tried or anything like that. Obviously it’d be great to get a partnership with someone and really take the game on together.”
Physicality may sound like a euphemism, given that England’s fitness came under criticism after the T20 World Cup and the Ashes. The fielding issues which also fell under that umbrella during those failures bugged England in this match too after positive signs against West Indies.
Sophie Ecclestone’s misfield off the first ball of the match – a full toss from Lauren Bell – gifted Shafali a single and Mandhana punished the next – overpitched – delivery for four.
In the next over, Alice Capsey lost sight of the ball while running under Mandhana’s top-edged pull and the ball fell safe behind her at midwicket.
England’s spinners were punished, conceding 105 runs in eight overs between them. Ecclestone received a chastening return to action after missing both West Indies’ series to play domestic cricket while making her way back from a minor knee problem then taking a short break from all cricket citing the need to manage her wellbeing.
She conceded 19 runs off her first over, 12 off the second and 12 off her third, the last of the innings in which she managed to prise out Mandhana, who picked out Sciver-Brunt.
Asked what she said to Ecclestone after that first over, Sciver-Brunt’s response suggested she’d tried to keep the mood relaxed with a wry “welcome back”.
“She’s been away, but she’s really glad to be back and we’re glad to have her as well,” Sciver-Brunt said. “When someone goes for 19 on their first over, we don’t write them off, especially if their name is Sophie Ecclestone. She played an important role later on in the innings.”
Sciver-Brunt revealed she will continue to play as a batter only during this series and the three ODIs against India to follow as she recovers from a long-standing Achilles injury.
She hopes to work her way back to her regular allrounder role by the time the 50-over World Cup starts in late September by bowling at some point during the Hundred. There, she will play for Trent Rockets but step aside as their captain this season to manage her workload.
“This week I did turn my arm over for 24 balls, but I think the process of me coming back to bowling will take a little bit longer than usual,” she said.
“I wanted a chance in the summer to play a bit of cricket and not have to think too much about the game so you get that little mental space as well, so I’m really looking forward to that,” she added of her decision not to lead Rockets.
In Bristol on Tuesday, the people best placed to lighten Sciver-Brunt’s load are her England team-mates.