Natalie Sciver was born in Tokyo and first played cricket while growing up in the Netherlands, though it was initially her third-choice sport after football and tennis. She is a genuine all-rounder who, on the back of impressive performances for Surrey in the County Championship in the 2012 and 2013 seasons, was called up for England for their 2013 series against Pakistan. She stormed onto the international scene that summer, taking 3 for 28 against Pakistan and claiming the Player of the Match award in only her second ODI.

A skiddy, accurate medium-pacer, in October 2013 in a match against New Zealand she became the first English cricketer, male or female, to take a T20I hat-trick. She also established herself as a key middle-order anchor for England during the 2013 Ashes series, averaging 100.00 with the bat, and displayed the same ability earlier this year during the Perth Test, sharing a 58-run partnership with Arran Brindle to rescue England's first innings, falling just one short of a maiden Test half-century.

Her bowling has perhaps been under-utilised at international level - she did not bowl in seven out of eight games during England's tour of New Zealand in early 2015 - but, despite only bowling one over in the Test, she finished the 2015 Women's Ashes with nine wickets at an average of 17.55. She also hit 175 runs in the series.

Signed for Melbourne Stars for the inaugural Women's Big Bash League, she solidified her reputation as a big hitter by becoming the first woman to hit a six in the competition. Ruled out of England's ODI series in South Africa in early 2016 due to an ankle injury, she rejoined the squad for the T20 leg of the tour and played in every match of their 2016 World Twenty20 campaign. She went on to play a starring role in their series whitewash of Pakistan that summer, breaking the record for the fastest half-century in ODIs in the second ODI at Worcester, finishing with 80 off 33 balls. Raf Nicholson