Katherine Sciver-Brunt confirms end of World Cup career

The legendary fast bowler is coming to the end of her international career and played her last World Cup match against South Africa on Friday

Nick Friend | 25/02/2023 at 17:25

Katherine Sciver-Brunt has played in her last World Cup, the veteran England fast bowler has confirmed, hinting that the 37-year-old's international retirement might not be far away.

Speaking to the ICC in the aftermath of England's six-run semi-final defeat against South Africa on Friday, she admitted that the end is not far off.

In recent months, Sciver-Brunt has retired from Test cricket, ended her regional career and missed ODI series to preserve her body for T20 cricket.

But she wasn't at her best during the World Cup, proving expensive at the death against both South Africa and India, while she also missed out on a deal in the Women's Premier League auction.

"I've been thinking about retirement daily for two years," she said. "It used to be after every tour, I'd question what I was doing. But as it's drawn closer, I've thought about it a bit more seriously and it does creep into your mind when you're training, mainly because of the pressure other people put on you.

"The media do like to keep tabs on you. Are you close to the end? Is your body holding up? You get all those comments and then you start to think: 'Oh, am I slowing down? Should I stop? Am I embarrassing myself?'"

ksb250202

^{Katherine Sciver-Brunt after winning the 2009 World Cup (Mark Nolan/Getty Images)}

Sciver-Brunt made her World Cup debut in 2005, also in South Africa, and would become a multiple world champion over the course of the next two decades, featuring in 11 World Cups, winning the player-of-the-match award in the 2009 World T20 final and playing a key role in England's 50-over World Cup triumph in 2017.

The seamer has always insisted that she would move on once a new generation of bowlers emerged to take her place. "I don't want to leave them vulnerable and not in the top three in the world," she told The Cricketer in 2020. "I honestly feel sometimes that if I walked away, they wouldn't be in a good place."

She took just four wickets through England's campaign in South Africa but was backed ahead of Kate Cross and Freya Davies, with England still valuing her ability to bowl dot-balls with the new ball. She was criticised at times, though, for her approach to her younger teammates in the field.

"I've always said I would like to retire on top, where I'm still wanted, I'm still picked in the first 11, I'm not less than what I used to be," she said to the ICC.

"That's how I've felt in the last six months, those things are starting to creep in where I can see somebody taking my role and doing it just as well.

"This is definitely the last World Cup and beyond this point, I'm fairly close to it all being along the same line, so it won't be long."

ksb250201

^{Katherine Sciver-Brunt wasn't at her best in South Africa (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)}

That will likely depend on where she slots into England's Ashes plans; Sciver-Brunt had admitted before the World Cup that she would retire if England were to win the tournament. Jon Lewis' arrival has already signalled the start of a new era, and the chance to go into battle against Australia with a fresh new-ball attack might well be among his plans for 2023. The next T20 World Cup is due to take place next year in Bangladesh.

"Looking back on my career, I'd like to think I was Mrs. Consistent," she added.

"I'd like to be remembered as someone who was always at the top of my game and always contributing for my country, helping us in a winning cause and giving everything I had.

"The new name is a bit of a mouthful, isn't it? The good thing is Nat can carry on my name, the legacy of Brunt will carry on which is great.

"Having my name associated with hers is also great because she's a bit of a legend in her own right now."