'There's no pressure to be an allrounder' - England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt shares her bowling plans after calf injury

England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt has revealed that she will commence the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup as a pure batter before she dives into being an all-rounder for her side. The Lionesses are one of the favourites to win the showpiece tournament on their home soil.

Sciver-Brunt is arguably one of England's best players heading into the 20-over tournament. The 33-year-old, however, sustained a calf injury whilst playing for The Blaze in the One Day Cup, which kept her out of the white-ball series against New Zealand and the T20I series against India.

The England captain is on course to be fit and available for selection ahead of the upcoming Women's T20 World Cup, but only as a batter, though she remains optimistic about getting to bowl during the latter stages of the tournament.

"There's no sort of pressure to be an allrounder at this stage. We've got a very balanced bowling attack that is covering a lot of bases, so there's not any pressure for me to bowl in the tournament. But from a personal point of view, I'd like to be available to bowl a bit later on. There's two warm-up games into the first match, which is three games over five days, so it'd be stupid of me to try and do everything all at once. Everything has gone to plan so far and all the sessions that I've done have been pain-free," Nat Sciver-Brunt was quoted as saying via ESPNcricinfo.

Despite missing their talismanic leader, England secured T20I series victories over New Zealand and India under the leadership of Charlie Dean, coming into the Women's T20 World Cup in great form. The hosts have been drawn alongside Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, with their first game being against the Lankan outfit on Friday, June 12 at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

Nat Sciver-Brunt (captain), Charlie Dean (vice-captain), Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey, Tilly Corteen-Coleman, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Dani Gibson, Amy Jones (wk), Freya Kemp, Heather Knight, Linsey Smith, Issy Wong, Danni Wyatt-Hodge