London, July 6 (IANS) An emotional England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt has expressed hope that the heartbreaking 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup final defeat to Australia at Lord’s would not be her final appearance in a global tournament, as she remained tight-lipped on her future as an international cricketer.

Australia clinically shattered England’s hopes of breaking the drought for a major silverware victory by securing a comprehensive seven-wicket victory to lift their seventh ICC Women’s T20 World Cup title. The summit clash held immense emotional significance for Nat as she walked out for the national anthem accompanied by her son, Theo.

“I probably won’t play in a home World Cup again, so having the opportunity to bring Theo out was really special. And I’m going to cry…I can’t really tell you how special it is. I haven’t thought about that. I don’t want it to be my last World Cup. I don’t even know when the next one is. I’m living day by day at the moment.

“I haven’t even put some thought into that at all. But I guess obviously family is everything, and the support that we get from our families, our team, our supporters, it all just means so much. I guess that’s why the emotions are high,” Nat told reporters at the conclusion of the tournament.

Nat endured a gruelling tournament, battling a calf injury that severely disrupted her preparation. Despite missing a majority of the build-up matches at home and in the tournament due to the recurrence of the injury, she bounced back brilliantly to smash half-centuries in both the semi-final and the final.

“It’s been up and down, to be honest. Obviously the first few games were really special, like that first game in Birmingham was a real highlight. But trying to nurse an injury during a World Cup hasn’t been easy.

“I guess I always wanted to try and remain positive around the group to, I guess, not let on too much how I’m feeling, I suppose, but missing out those games were pretty tough. I’ve just tried to do everything I could do to not be too disrupted, obviously, coming back.

“But I probably surprised myself a bit coming back in that semi-final and being able to do what I did. I guess just immensely proud of what I was able to do. Obviously not how I saw my World Cup going or the ideal scenario. So, just really proud of what I’ve been able to do,” she added.

However, her gritty 53-ball 58 in the final came under some scrutiny as Australia chased down England’s total with minimal fuss. When questioned about her strike rate and whether she considered ‘retiring out’ – a tactical move deployed by India’s Jemimah Rodrigues earlier in the tournament – Nat dismissed the notion.

“I would have liked to have had a lot of higher strike rates, to be honest, after hitting my first ball for 4. I didn’t, I wouldn’t… that wasn’t my intention. I wanted to play through the innings, yes, but be a little freer, I suppose, in trying to be able to find the boundary. Like I said, I picked out full tosses or short balls to the fielder on the boundary.

“So, I’m obviously sitting here feeling like I could have done a lot better with that. When I went off earlier in the tournament, it was because of my calf, not because I was retiring out. So in my head, it didn’t feel that easy for people to come in and start, hitting boundaries straight away.

“So, I was confident that I could pick up with some boundaries towards the end there, and obviously having Alice (Capsey) or Freya (Kemp) or whoever it is at the other end being really positive… (it) created a great partnership between me and Freya,” she concluded.

–IANS

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