England have received a major shot in their arm as captain Nat Sciver-Brunt has been declared fit for their Women’s T20 World Cup semifinal against South Africa on Thursday, July 2. Sciver-Brunt suffered a recurrence of a calf injury and missed the last three group stage matches as England remained unbeaten in their campaign. Sciver-Brunt revealed her recovery journey as she and the medical team “threw everything at it” to bring her back for the semifinal against the two-time semifinalists.
Sciver-Brunt on her recovery from the issue
The all-rounder was expected to miss two matches, but was later ruled out of the third clash against New Zealand. She has extensively worked on her recovery since then, which saw the England skipper take oxygen therapy and seven one-hour sessions of magnetic resonance therapy.ย
“There’s a bit of research out there about BST but, yeah, we literally threw everything at it,” Sciver-Brunt told media on the eve of the semi-final at The Oval. “I worked really hard to get myself to this position and the sports science and medicine team helped too, so I’m really happy to be sat here. Everything has gone to plan as well as it could do, really. We used various different methods to get the recovery right,” Sciver-Brunt said.
Sciver-Brunt reveals target was semifinal
The England skipperย admitted that she felt the New Zealand game was way too soon for them and that the plan was for the knockouts. “We always had this game in mind,” she said. “The New Zealand game came a little bit too soon, because time is our friend. This game was the target, so those things went to plan.
“We’ve tested it enough to be comfortable, and I suppose what will happen out on the pitch will happen. I’m really happy with where I’m at physically. I guess there’s always a risk, isn’t there, with these things?
“But you feel when you weigh up the balance, it’s worth taking that risk given where you are in the tournament and everything else. Physically, I’m able to take part in all of the game so, from that point of view, I’m really happy.”
Her injury is the recurrence of the calf tear that she picked up in late April during the domestic cricket. This kept her out of the T20I series against India and New Zealand as she made a return in the warm-ups before making an unbeaten 46 and 48 in the World Cup.
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