If Australia are not quite quaking in their boots at Nat Sciver-Brunt’s barnstorming return, they may at least have been forced to re-do their homework on their T20 World Cup final opponents.
The Aussies’ best players are not in the business of unnecessarily praising their opponents, yet the admiration many of them hold for Sciver-Brunt has been evident over the years. Speaking before the last Ashes series, Aussie bowlers conceded how challenging she is to contain with her 360-degree scoring capabilities.
“She’s threatening literally everywhere,” Georgia Wareham told cricket.com.au. “If you miss, she’s going to make sure you pay for it.” Wareham’s teammates also noted how Sciver-Brunt’s calm demeanour, evident in the match-winning 75 the 33-year-old made on Thursday (Friday morning AEST) after England had slumped to 3-23, helps unlock her rare skills at the crease.
The dynamic right-hander’s best work against Australia has, however, come in other formats. Four of her 10 ODI tons have come against them, the most recent in 2023, while she has passed fifty in each of England’s last four Ashes Tests.
In T20Is against the Aussies, both her batting average (22.28) and strike-rate (107.32) are down on her career marks (average of 30.08, strike-rate 120.76). She was England’s player of the series in the 2023 Ashes, but did not pass 25 in any of the three T20Is including in their two wins, and fared no better in the 2024-25 T20Is with scores of 20, 22 and 1.
And, despite her superb overall record at ICC events, from seven T20 and ODI World Cup meetings against Australia, Sciver-Brunt’s only win came in a group game at the 2017 50-over tournament.
So how have Australia kept her relatively quiet in the shortest format? And will it work again on Sunday (12:30am Monday morning AEST, live and free on Prime Video in Australia) in a tantalising World Cup final at Lord’s?
A lot of Australia’s success appears to have stemmed from their ability to execute a common plan – bowling straight – better than others. The beehive of Australia’s T20I dismissals of Sciver-Brunt shows a tight cluster around her stumps; only two of the 12 wicket-taking balls to her have been outside off-stump. She averages 5.87 against Australia when they bowl at her stumps and 27.75 when they don’t.
One might suggest this is an obvious ploy – bowling at the stumps, what will they think of next? – but it is not one that has been universally successful. It would, for instance, appear a poor plan to take against England’s other major batting threat at the moment, Danni Wyatt-Hodge. Australia have only dismissed the current tournament’s leading run-scorer three times in 36 innings with balls projected to hit or actually hitting her stumps. In fact, Wyatt-Hodge’s strike-rate against balls on the line of her stumps (162.50) is up from her overall tournament rate (152.33).
The ‘bowl straight’ ploy to Sciver-Brunt is no great secret – after all, the ‘Natmeg’ was an answer to an in-swing bowler targeting the base of her leg-stump – nor is it a cheat code to her undoing. When India bowl at her stumps in T20Is she averages 80. Australia do not even target Sciver-Brunt’s stumps all that much more than other teams; of sides to have come up against her more than twice in T20Is, all of them have bowled between 23 and 30 per cent of balls at her stumps.
Her hand in the knockout match against the Proteas was further evidence that it is no sure-fire way of trumping Sciver-Brunt. The beehive of where South Africa’s bowlers attacked her shows they were disciplined, in their line at least, with only five of the 47 balls she faced outside her eyeline on the off-side.
Marizanne Kapp did create an early chance by attempting to choke her for room, a mis-timed flick landed out of a fielder’s reach. Such was the importance of getting Sciver-Brunt early, the Proteas gambled by burning through their best quick’s four overs upfront, but that miscue was as close as they came.
Subsequent attempts to follow her as she darted across the crease to access different areas of the ground were ineffective. Sciver-Brunt calmly neutered the new-ball threats of Kapp and Shabnim Ismail without great risk, saying later that “Shabnim and Marizanne are obviously world class bowlers who could do the damage” and added England had planned to “see them off and try and capitalise on the other bowlers”.
It was an insight into her level head amid her team’s early stumbles. She scored just five runs from her first eight balls – the fifth coming on a single from that false shot against Kapp – before unloading on the Proteas’ weaker bowlers.
More than three quarters of her runs came in an arc from directly behind the keeper to straight mid-wicket, with her dominant bottom hand allowing her to pick leg-side gaps off with ease as her innings progressed. All but one of her 12 boundaries were hit to the leg-side. It was close to a perfect knock, firing England to a total well beyond their opponents’ reach.
Against Australia, her challenge will be greater. For starters, there are no obvious weak links in a bowling attack so strong that Alana King was left out of it for their semi-final against West Indies. Annabel Sutherland, typically tasked with death overs, is the only Australian bowler with an economy rate north of seven for the tournament.
The case for King’s recall is weakened by her struggles against Sciver-Brunt (she strikes at 168.33 against the leg-spinner across international and franchise T20s), while Australia’s other leggie, Wareham, matches up better historically, dismissing her seven times across all T20s and limiting her to a strike-rate of 104.67.
Ellyse Perry has dismissed her more times than any other bowler, though has not gotten her out in an international since 2018 and is under an injury cloud going into the final. With Kim Garth and Sophie Molineux having kept her relatively quiet as well, Ashleigh Gardner may well be her only other possible target going off previous encounters.
But Australia will know history won’t mean much if Sciver-Brunt gets set and is again able to unfurl her full range of scoops, ramps and flicks with a home crowd behind her. If she gets to that stage of her innings on a balmy evening at Lord’s, Australia may need another trick up their sleeve.
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026
Australia squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham. Travelling reserve: Tahlia Wilson
Australia’s fixtures
June 13: beat South Africa by 65 runs
June 17: beat Bangladesh by nine wickets
June 20: beat Netherlands by 98 runs
June 24: beat Pakistan by 113 runs
June 28: beat India by six wickets
Semi-final 1: Australia beat West Indies by eight wickets
(Semi-final 2: England beat South Africa by 40 runs)
Final: Austrlaia v England at Lord’s, London, July 5 (12:30am July 6 AEST)
Click here for the full tournament schedule
All matches will be broadcast on Amazon’s Prime Video
