Amid the fanfare of England’s T20 World Cup squad announcement last week, the new faces in their playing group for the New Zealand ODI series got slightly lost.
Knight and Sciver-Brunt have led England's batting across formats, but what after them?
The first ODI will take place this Sunday, and will be the first time England have played an international match for over six months. The XI they put out will have at least two changes from when they were knocked out of the World Cup semi-finals by South Africa in October: Tammy Beaumont has been left out of both England’s T20I and ODI squads, a sign perhaps that her days in international cricket have come to an end, and, last week, it was announced that Nat Sciver-Brunt will not play in the ODI series due to a minor left calf tear.
England’s captain and talismanic all-rounder missing three matches ahead of a marquee home summer, having not played international cricket since October, is significant. While there is no suggestion at this stage that Sciver-Brunt will miss the following two T20I series, or that she is in danger of sitting out the T20 World Cup, her injury and any possible extension to her time off the field will eat into finite pre-tournament playing opportunities. Sciver-Brunt returned home early from England’s training camp in South Africa for family reasons, and missed the second half of their T20I series last summer with a groin strain.
At the centre of the concern is how much England’s batting lineup across formats revolves around their two stalwarts in Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight. The latter has also missed significant playing time in recent years, sitting out the second half of last summer with a hamstring injury.
Since the end of the 2020 T20 World Cup, Sciver-Brunt and Knight are the only two England batters who average in the 30s in T20Is, and both are in England’s top four T20I run-scorers of all time. In ODIs, Sciver-Brunt is one of three players in the world since the 2022 World Cup to have all three of an average over 50, 1,500 runs, and a strike-rate above 90. While Knight’s 50-over returns took a dip in between tournaments, she was England’s leading run-scorer in last year’s World Cup, and she and Sciver-Brunt were the only two England players to score centuries in the tournament.
In short, for a marquee home summer, a year into her captaincy, and with excuses for poor performances in big tournaments having run out, England have to have Sciver-Brunt and Knight fit and firing. While that is now out of their control, how they manage the transition period from being reliant on their veterans can no longer be kicked down the road. Knight has potentially already started preparing for the next phase of her career with her non-playing role as London Spirit Women general manager in The Hundred this summer, and Sciver-Brunt will turn 34 this summer. In short, neither are bankers to still be playing in the 2029 World Cup.
The subtle signs of future in England's ODI squad for New Zealand series
Since she took over as head coach last year, Charlotte Edwards has faced repeated criticism for picking the same group of players who produced poor results in the past. Some of that criticism has been fair, and some hasn’t. The squad Edwards has picked for the T20 World Cup is remarkably similar to the T20I squad that was hammered by Australia in The Ashes last year, which prompted the removal of Jon Lewis as head coach, and Knight as captain. But, the players Edwards has picked are, by and large, the best she has to select from. Of the fresher faces she could have picked, Davina Perrin had a poor WBBL and hasn’t torn up on the county circuit so far this season, nor have Grace Scrivens or Paige Scholfield (bar one stand-out knock).
Equally, there are subtle nods to the future in the ODI squad picked to face New Zealand. Kira Chatli and Jodi Grewcock were included in an international squad for the first time. Chathli bats at No.3 in 50-over cricket for Surrey when regular England players aren’t available and was named their One Day Cup captain at the start of the summer. Grewcock, who has been highly rated on the domestic circuit as a leg-spinning batting all-rounder for several years, celebrated her England call-up by scoring her maiden professional century against Somerset. She currently leads the run-scoring charts in the One Day Cup, with an average of 80.80 from six innings.
More good news for England is having their two long-favoured all-rounders fit again in Dani Gibson and Freya Kemp. While Kemp allows England a leftie to break up the constant flow of right-handers in their top six, Gibson has been pinned as an innings finisher since she made her debut in 2023. Charlie Dean will also captain the side against New Zealand in Sciver-Brunt’s absence, which, given Dean was an outside contender to replace Knight, is likely in view of succession planning – Tammy Beaumont captained England when Sciver-Brunt was injured last summer.
Even if subtly, England are preparing for a future beyond their long-relied-upon stalwarts. While this summer may not see change front and centre, in the background, the ground is being laid for regeneration.
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