England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt has been ruled out of the third women’s T20 against India due to a left groin injury.
Tammy Beaumont will captain the side at The Oval on Friday in Sciver-Brunt’s absence, as England bid to avoid a series defeat in the five-match series after losing the first two matches by 97 runs and then 24 runs.
Hampshire batter Maia Bouchier has been added as cover to the squad.
Sciver-Brunt has undergone a scan on her injury, the results of which will determine if she misses any more games in the series.
The fourth T20 takes place at Old Trafford next Wednesday before the final T20 at Edgbaston on Saturday July 12 ahead of a three-match ODI series that begins on July 16.
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Sciver-Brunt said she has full confidence in her players despite back-to-back defeats to India in theT20 series
Speaking after Tuesday’s defeat at Bristol, Sciver-Brunt insisted it was “not the end” for her side going into the rest of the T20 series, instead taking the positives from two losses against world-class opponents.
There were improvements made – in periods – at the Seat Unique Stadium from the performance seen three days earlier by England, with early wickets, strong bowling spells and individual batting highlights all visible.
“I thought we started off really well in the power play, taking three wickets, which we didn’t in the first game,” Sciver-Brunt told Sky Sports. “Every bowler that came on was really focused on that, which is part of our strategy.
“Then they [India] obviously got a big partnership together, which we probably didn’t adapt to as quickly as we would have liked. Everyone really stuck to the task and tried to grind it out, so the effort was there.”
On the batting display, having seen England’s top order struggle for a second successive game, Sciver-Brunt added: “We have full confidence in our players. We select the batters that we feel are in form, and I guess we’ll see how it goes.
“We needed some partnerships. Tammy [Beaumont] and Amy [Jones] showed us the way with that. We just probably needed another one on top of that. But it’s obviously tricky when you lose a couple of early wickets.
“I guess that it’s not the end [of the series]. We can really fight back and come back with some maybe fresh ideas but also be a little more clinical in the ones that we do want to execute.”
What’s next? England vs India schedule
All time UK and Ireland; all live on Sky Sports
T20 international series
One-day international series
- First ODI: Wednesday July 16 (1pm) – Southampton
- Second ODI: Saturday July 19 (11am) – Lord’s
- Third ODI: Tuesday July 22 (1pm) – Chester-le-Street
Watch England’s third T20I against India live on Sky Sports Cricket from Friday July 4, with live coverage from 6pm ahead of the first ball at 6.30pm at the Kia Oval. Not got Sky? Stream cricket and more with no contract.
