Nat Sciver-Brunt: 'We are a very different team since the Ashes'

Nat Sciver-Brunt, England's World Cup talis(wo)man, now holds a more official role than before at the tournament and she hopes her influence can be even greater this time around.

In her first campaign in 2017, Sciver-Brunt scored two group-stage centuries followed by a crucial fifty in the final as England rounded off their victorious campaign against India at Lord's. Then, in 2022, she posted twin unbeaten centuries in losing causes against Australia, including a heroic 148 not out in the final at Christchurch.

Now as captain, Sciver-Brunt finds herself in another fine patch of form with the bat heading into the latest edition in India and Sri Lanka.

England's squad of 15 flew to Abu Dhabi a week ago to ramp up their preparations ahead of their opening match against South Africa on October 3.

That was after a short break following the conclusion of the Hundred, in which Sciver-Brunt was the tournament's fourth-highest run-scorer with 256 runs at 36.57 and a strike rate of 148.83. Her side, Trent Rockets, finished fourth, just missing out on the knockout phase.

Of players to have scored 300 or more runs since the last 50-over World Cup, only Sciver-Brunt and South Africa's Marizanne Kapp are averaging more than 60 while striking at better than 90 in ODIs.

"With my own experience of 50-over World Cups, they're really tough," Sciver-Brunt told ESPNcricinfo. "So being able to be that consistent and level-headed leader and giving energy when I need to, that's the sort of thing I've been thinking about so far because it takes 15 people to win a World Cup, and all the staff.

"Squad-wise, there's lots of people in really good places, watching the Hundred and how much enjoyment everyone's taking out of that, so hopefully we can take a little bit of that into India."

Sciver-Brunt took over from Heather Knight as England skipper after a winless Ashes tour of Australia and she relinquished the Rockets captaincy ahead of the summer's home series against India to manage her workload. The franchise role went to Australian allrounder Ash Gardner and Sciver-Brunt - whose wife Katherine gave birth to their son, Theo, in March - admitted she took some getting used to sliding back into a pure playing role again.

"The first game was like, 'oh, my brain feels quite empty,'" Sciver-Brunt said. "It was good fun actually. I was still thinking a little bit about the game when I got to field out on the boundary, which I quite enjoy as well, so yeah, a little bit different and I guess a little bit of head space for me with a young family during a busy summer.

"I was really happy with how that went, keeping an eye on the other games as well and how everyone's going, so not fully switched off but it was really good and I'm excited to get back into that [captaincy] space again."

Sciver-Brunt enjoyed being able to travel with her family during the English summer, although the logistics of flying around and between India and Sri Lanka with such a young baby mean that they won't all be together during the World Cup.

"That's going to be a different challenge," she said. "He's watched a lot of cricket and he doesn't nap or eat very well when he's got some big distractions, like loud music, wickets, boundaries and stuff like that. But he's doing really well and he's a great perspective to have after games, whether you've won or lost."

Knight and Sciver-Brunt will head to India following injury battles. Before scoring 41 and 7 during two unofficial warm-up matches against New Zealand this week, Knight hadn't played since tearing her hamstring while batting against West Indies in May. Sciver-Brunt, meanwhile, had been unable to bowl since the WPL final in March because of an Achilles problem, but she took a significant step towards reprising her allrounder role by taking 2 for 23 in 5.3 overs during the second of those games on Saturday.

England have picked four spinners - left-armers Sophie Ecclestone and Linsey Smith, offspinner Charlie Dean and leggie Sarah Glenn - while Lauren Bell will spearhead the seam attack, which also includes Lauren Filer and Em Arlott. If all goes to plan, a bowling-fit Sciver-Brunt will provide both balance to the attack and a vital level of experience, after veteran Kate Cross was overlooked.

Bell enjoyed an outstanding season in the Hundred, where her Southern Brave side were runners-up to Northern Superchargers and she led the bowling charts with 19 wickets at 8.47 and an economy rate of 5.38, including best figures of 4 for 6 against Welsh Fire.

Against India in June and July, Sciver-Brunt led the run-scorers with 160 at 53.33 and 87.91 as England lost the series 2-1. Ecclestone, with five wickets, and Dean, with four, trailed India seamer Kranti Goud's nine.

"That series let us know that it's going to be really tough," Sciver-Brunt said. "India are going to be playing in their home conditions where they feel very comfortable so we're going to have to put our best cricket out there.

"We probably weren't as consistent as we wanted to be, in terms of playing our best cricket, but if we can do that as a team, we'll be able to compete against the best teams. It's whether we can put that out consistently during the tournament. I'm really excited about where we can go. I think we haven't shown our best yet, so hopefully we can save some good performances for the tournament."

There have been few personnel changes to England's ODI squad since the Ashes - batter Emma Lamb has replaced Maia Bouchier, with Arlott and extra spinner Smith coming in for Cross. But Sciver-Brunt believes a change in approach under new head coach Charlotte Edwards, will stand them in good stead.

Having had just 14 international matches, including only six ODIs, under the new leadership however, expectations on this England side are lower than they will be during the home T20 World Cup next year.

"Any side who's gone to Australia with quite high expectations and left seven-matches-to-none is going to feel pretty down, regardless of who you are," Sciver-Brunt said. "We've learned from our experiences there, but we haven't dwelled on that too much and I suppose use that as a starting point rather than an end point. We've changed a lot in terms of the way we do things and also our methodology a bit, so I think we are a very different team since then."