Nat’s best to bank on
NAT SCIVER reckons England are capable of conquering their nerves and pulling off an “incredible” win over India in today’s women’s World Cup final at Lord’s.
The nerves will be there because the home of cricket is a sell-out.
Several of England’s team have played there before – but none in front of a 28,000 crowd.
At 24, Sciver might be forgiven for letting the big stage get to her.
But as the welltravelled daughter of a diplomat, nothing much fazes the England allrounder.
In fact, after two hundreds and seven wickets so far, she is making this a tournament to remember.
Sciver said: “Because of its place in time for the women’s game, it has made it more special. For us to be winners at this time would be incredible.
“I’m not really sure how else to describe it at the minute, I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but I can feel the excitement building up – and we can win it.
“Our first game didn’t go as we wanted it to but, since then, we’ve been building our performances and momentum.
“We won’t have played in front of a crowd as big as this before, so it’s remembering that it’s just a game of cricket – and it’s what you’ve been doing for 10 years.
“That’s often the hardest thing to do – settling the nerves before you go out to bat or take the ball.”
Sciver was the driving force behind England’s first win of the tournament as they recovered from losing to India in the opening match to thrash Pakistan.
It was her big-hitting that caught the eye that day, but since then her skill in mastering the ‘Nat-meg’ shot by flicking a yorker-length ball between he legs has captured the imagination. Sciver admits that if she wasn’t playing cricket, her dip into property development with teammate Katherine Brunt (left) would become a real focus. “Katherine and I like to be involved in the process,” she added.
”We’ve done wallpaper-stripping and things like that, which is good for the soul.
“It is very satisfying when a whole piece comes off at once. It is a good distraction for us, but can also be a stress.
“We originally started with student lets, but the laws have changed.
“We’ve just bought an old place at the minute which is a little bit on standstill because we’re here.”
The property business might be on hold, but the cricket is going full steam ahead.
And Sciver, with her ‘Nat-meg’, could get her hands on something even more satisfying than wallpaper tonight.