Dropped on three, England’s captain Nat Sciver-Brunt made the tournament co-hosts pay with a vita knock
Nat Sciver-Brunt has been hailed as “unbelievable” after her record-breaking century propelled England to an 89-run World Cup win over Sri Lanka.
The England captain and star allrounder became the first batter to record a fifth hundred in Women’s World Cup history as she fired a magnificent 117 off as many deliveries in Colombo on Saturday.
Sciver-Brunt also took two wickets as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 164, with England securing their third consecutive win to overtake Australia at the top of the World Cup league standings.
Commenting on her match-winning innings, Tammy Beaumont, who scored 32 off 29 balls, said of Sciver-Brunt: “She is just unbelievable. She doesn’t seem to feel pressure when she is batting.
“She started off aggressively when the ball was skidding on, and then stayed composed and shuffled that lower order. It shows how good she is, and how lucky we are to have her in the team.”
Sciver-Brunt was dropped while she was on three by Udeshika Prabodhani and that came back to haunt the Sri Lankans.
Particularly given they had England in trouble at 6-168. Beaumont’s 32 was England’s next best score as their batters struggled with the patience required in the conditions.
Sciver-Brunt brought up her 10th ODI hundred – becoming just the fifth woman to do so – off 110 balls and celebrated by cradling her bat in tribute to her young son, Theo, who was watching on from the stands.
England’s skipper hit seven boundaries in all – including a hat-trick of consecutive fours in the final over – as well as two sixes to put England in the driving seat before Sophie Ecclestone starred with the ball, spinning Sri Lanka to distraction to end with 4-17.
The hosts had made a solid start to be 1-95 after 20 overs before Hasini Perera (35), Harshitha Samarawickrama (33), Kavisha Dilhari (four) and Chamari Athapaththu (15) were all bamboozled by Ecclestone’s excellence.
The wicket of Athapaththu in the 29th over, after she had earlier been stretchered off with cramp, was the crucial breakthrough, bowled through the gate.
“She is brilliant, isn’t she?” said Sciver-Brunt, of Ecclestone.
“To be able to hand the ball to her and not go for many runs and pick up four wickets is pretty special.
“But from the moment she came into the team when she was 16 we knew we had something special on our hands.
“She has really grown in the past couple of months and we have challenged her to improve and to make a mark on the team and for herself and I am really pleased for her.”
England play Pakistan next on Wednesday before additional group tests to follow against India, Australia and New Zealand.
All ICC Cricket World Cup matches to be broadcast exclusively live and free on Prime Video.
2025 Women’s ODI World Cup standings
Team
Matches played
M
Wins
W
Losses
L
Ties
T
No results
N/R
Net Run Rate
NRR
Deductions
Ded.
Total points
PTS
1
ENG
3
3
0
0
0
1.864
0
6
2
AUS
3
2
0
0
1
1.96
0
5
3
IND
3
2
1
0
0
0.959
0
4
4
SA
3
2
1
0
0
-0.888
0
4
5
NZ
3
1
2
0
0
-0.245
0
2
6
BAN
3
1
2
0
0
-0.357
0
2
7
SL
3
0
2
0
1
-1.526
0
1
8
PAK
3
0
3
0
0
-1.887
0
0
Legend
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
