Nat Sciver: England batter’s century in World Cup opening defeat to Australia one of her best ever, says captain Heather Knight | Cricket News

Heather Knight on Nat Sciver, following her 109 not out in England’s 12-run defeat to Australia: “If we are going to be in with a chance in this World Cup, we’re going to need performances like that from her. She is brilliant to have in your side, a true all-rounder”

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Heather Knight felt there was ‘lots of positives’ to take from the opening game loss to Australia in the Women’s World Cup

England captain Heather Knight spoke confidently despite seeing her side suffer yet another defeat to Australia to open their Women’s World Cup campaign on Saturday.

England failed to win a single match in the multi-format Women’s Ashes last month, losing all three scheduled ODIs against Australia, and despite slipping to a fourth-straight to open their World Cup defence, Knight saw plenty of positives to take from the game – namely Nate Sciver.

Chasing 311 to win, England came up 10 runs short of their target despite a magnificent, unbeaten 109 from Sciver off of just 85 balls.

“For us as a batting unit, that’s a real confidence booster,” said Knight.

“The way we played in the Ashes wasn’t quite a true representation of how we want to go about things, so to see the girls doing that – to see how aggressive we were – there’s lots of positives to take from it. We lost the first game of the 2017 World Cup.

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England lose the first game of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup to Australia by 12 runs in New Zealand

“What an innings from Nat Sciver, that was outstanding, it almost deserved to be on the winning side, didn’t it.

“If we are going to be in with a chance in this World Cup, we’re going to need performances like that from her. She is brilliant to have in your side, a true all-rounder.

“That’s probably one of the best knocks I’ve seen from her, and I’ve seen her play some pretty good ones.”

Knight herself struck 40, sharing in a 92-run partnership with Tammy Beaumont (74) for the second wicket after England lost Lauren Winfield-Hill for a four-ball duck in the first over.

She added: “To see the batting group perform like that, although obviously not get over the line, was really nice.

“Led by Tammy at the top of the order – I think she was brilliant – and then carried on by Nat and that fine innings.”

Sciver too believes England have taken a step forward despite defeat to Australia, taking comfort in the way they push the No 1-ranked ODI side in the world all the way.

Nat Sciver struck 13 boundaries in her unbeaten 109 off 85 balls but couldn’t quite steer England to victory

“It feels frustrating, but also really encouraging from where we were at the end of the Ashes,” Sciver said.

“I think we were in a pretty low spot, but to be able to turn that around in a couple of weeks is really important to be able to take that into the rest of the tournament.

“We’ve already seen a lot of high-scoring games so it’s important for us to do the same.”

Both sides paid tribute to Rod Marsh and Shane Warne before the start of the match following the sad news of the passing of the two Australian cricketing greats in the past 48 hours.

Australian leg-spinner Alana King impressed in the game, taking 3-59 from her 10 overs, and patted her black armband in her celebration of the wicket of Beaumont.

“The shock of waking up to that this morning was unbelievable,” Sciver added. “I’m not really sure I’ve got my head around it.

“But I’m really pleased that a leg-spinner was able to take some wickets today and do that in tribute to Shane Warne.”