We call Natalie Sciver our Ben Stokes of the team: Heather Knight

England all-rounder Natalie Sciver, often called the Ben Stokes of England women’s team, lived up to her reputation as England women registered their highest ever World Cup total to trounce Pakistan at Grace Road, Leicester. Captain Heather Knight and Sciver, brought up their maiden One-Day International tons, scoring 137 and 106 respectively, as the hosts put up a huge 377/7 from their 50 overs.

As for the women in green, they were 107/3 in 30 overs when it started to pour and thus England won by 107 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method. Earlier in their opening game, India got the better of England. Speaking after the winning the match, the England captain, ecstatic after the win plus her century, said this was the best innings from Sciver she had seen.

“That is probably the best innings I’ve seen Nat play,” said Knight. “She was hitting the ball brilliantly from ball one as she always does. She’s one of the cleanest strikers of the ball in the world. To see her progress as a player has been really pleasing to watch.”

Calling Nat one of the best all-rounders, she said that everyone in the team calls her Ben Stokes. “She’s one of the best all rounders. She can bowl brilliantly. We call her our Ben Stokes of the team. She’s a little bit less aggressive. I’m really pleased for her.”

England are now third on the Round Robin table 

Sciver, who en-route her maiden century struck 14 fours and four sixes shared her captain’s opinion and said this was her best innings for England. “That’s certainly the best innings of my career for England. I had been feeling pretty good all season and it was a really good feeling to get to three figures. I just had to do the basics well,” she said.

England will next play Sri Lanka at Taunton on Sunday.