Nat Sciver Brunt Named New England Women's Cricket Team Captain

Nat Sciver Brunt has been named as the new captain of the England Women's Cricket Team, the England Cricket Board (ECB) announced on Tuesday (April 29th). She takes over from Heather Knight, who led the team for 9 years.

This decision came on the back of some poor performances of the England team after their poor outings in the Women's T20 World Cup, where England missed out on a semi-final berth. They then faced a 16-0 Ashes drubbing in Australia in the multi-format series that led to Jon Lewis announcing his resignation as the head coach of the side, a role that was taken up by Charlotte Edwards

Nat Sciver-Brunt, meanwhile, has established her all-format credentials over the last 12 years since she made her debut in 2013. She was named the PCA Player of the Year twice - in 2017 and 2022, and won the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year twice too - for 2022 and 2023.

Sciver-Brunt had a fantastic 2023 in the two white-ball formats and was part of the ICC Women's ODI and T20 Teams of the Year in 2023. More recently, she became the first player to score 500 runs in a single season of the Women's Premier League, and the first to 1000 runs in the tournament.

Nat Sciver On Leading the England Team

"I'm proud to be named as the captain of England's cricket team, & it's also an honor to have been asked by Charlotte, someone whom I've looked up to while making a career in cricket

"We have a talented group, a group that plays in Unison. It's exciting to work with Charlotte again, as I've worked with her at the Mumbai Indians in the WPL We look forward to getting the best results possible for the England Cricket & bringing joy to our fans whenever we play," she added.

Sciver-Brunt has led England before - for the first time in the third T20I against New Zealand in 2021, while she also led the side in the Commonwealth Games that were held in Birmingham in 2022.

Nat Sciver's first assignment will be the home series against the West Indies at home, hosting them for the ODI & T20I series starting May 21. They will then host the Indian Women's team for 5 ODIs & Three T20Is in the lead up to the Women's ODI World Cup that will be played in India later this year.