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ICC WOMEN'S WORLD T20

February 23, 2020

Natalie Sciver

Perth, Western Australia, Western Australia

South Africa - 127/4, England - 123/8

Q. It was a good game of cricket but didn't go quite England's way in the end.
NATALIE SCIVER: It was for the spectators.

Q. Where did it go wrong?
NATALIE SCIVER: I think we were a bit short with the bat. We didn't quite get enough runs unfortunately. And we knew we had to bowl and field brilliantly well which we started off amazing, taking a wicket in the powerplay and keeping it really tight.

But they got a partnership together which I mean in the end we knew if we did get a wicket there to break Dane and Marizanne, we could hopefully get a few more which almost happened. Then they took it over to the last over anyway. Good game.

Q. Sounds like with the ball, you bowled a lot quicker on average than what we saw in the Tri-Series, fewer slower balls. Was that the case and if so why?
NATALIE SCIVER: Yeah, we felt with this wicket that hitting that hard length was going to be the most difficult ball to play on there, which Ismail did very well. She hit the pitch really hard and made it very difficult for us.

So that's what we spoke about before going into the game. And, yeah, then when it came down to crunch time we felt going fuller with the wind going against it was a better plan.

Q. Was that also the thinking, reasoning of playing Sarah Glenn ahead of Freya Davies?
NATALIE SCIVER: I guess so. That's one for the coaches, that question. I mean, all of our bowlers so far this tour that have played have done really well. And it's a hard-fought team at the moment. It's good to have a place on the side.

Q. One of the batting, first of all, is it really clear, do you feel all of you know your roles, where you are coming in sort of in that lineup, because it has been a bit of a discussion about where people are batting often below others?
NATALIE SCIVER: Yeah, we have a little bit of a fluid batting lineup at times. We'll see Amy and Danni can obviously get us off to a good start which they did today. But unfortunately when we lost both of them quite quickly it was difficult to get a partnership together.

But the batters coming in, I guess, know it's kind of adaptive really, depends who was in -- I was in for most of the time and the batters coming in have a responsibility to hopefully get their partnership moving and just either get off strike or be positive and go for boundary and that sort of thing. That's the kind of discussions we have before we play and I'm sure in the dugout as well.

Q. In that last over, Katherine gave a warning. How do you feel about running out the non-striker? Is that something you feel strongly about? Because that could have changed the game in the end. Is it a team thing? Is it an individual thing?
NATALIE SCIVER: She was never going to run her out. A bit of drama, isn't it? I mean one of their bowlers did it to me. I don't know if she stopped because I moved around and she wanted a bit of a reprieve or she was keeping the other batter in there. I know that none of our team would ever do that. It's just part of the game, isn't it?

Q. The same thing happened with Australia where they lost the first one and they probably have to win the rest, the remaining three. What's it like from a player's perspective knowing that it might be sudden death for you girls?
NATALIE SCIVER: Yeah, it puts the pressure on, doesn't it? I think in terms of our team, a bit of pressure will hopefully see the best of us. We've got a couple of games in Canberra to hopefully get used to the wicket a little bit. We get two games in the same place.

So hopefully we can go out there and play positively and play with freedom. I know the first game sometimes you have a few nerves around. I was nervous since two days ago watching the first game. So nerves can be good, but bad also sometimes.

Q. You girls also had the big loss to Sri Lanka in the warm-up. Is it a confidence thing or form issue?
NATALIE SCIVER: No, I don't think so. Chamari I suppose had an amazing day. Very difficult to stop her, especially when we didn't get enough runs in that game as well. As a batting unit, we are not far away but just a few things to tweak.

Q. In terms of the quality of the competition, does it remind you of the 2017 World Cup semifinal? Obviously you ended up on the winning side on that occasion. But simply your comments on the competition between two of the world's best teams. And also thoughts on Mignon du Preez? That six obviously changed the course of the game decisively. You played against domestic leagues and internationally as well. How have you seen this player evolve over time? She just played her 100th T20I?
NATALIE SCIVER: Yeah, I'd love to pledge a six when you need nine to win 1-over. That would be great. Unfortunately, yeah, she got it away and since probably the carousel two years ago she's really involved as a T20 player, Mignon has. And she's become a big wicket.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
NATALIE SCIVER: Yeah, even back then South Africa were a great side. And you can see by the way they reacted they believed they could beat us, they believed they could be in the final. On that day it wasn't meant to be.

But the quality of the draw of all of the teams for this T20 World Cup has stepped up a notch. You saw it in all the warm-up games, anything can happen. In the Tri-Series anything can happen. Yeah, we've got to be on our game.

Q. At home when you (indiscernible) playing the Scorchers, Lisa of course has been in the Scorchers for so long, disappointing to not be able to use that knowledge and experience to get a win? And was that knowledge part of what formed the strategy with the ball today?
NATALIE SCIVER: Definitely. We spoke a lot about the ground and how it differs from other places and what's worked well for us during the Scorchers and from Lisa and also Tim, who is the bowling coach for the Scorchers, we had a lot of knowledge. The bowling performance was brilliant, I think, we just didn't have enough runs. So if we had it again I think the plan would be the same.

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