Sciver-Brunt to go full throttle after 'emotional' spell

After a frustrating and "emotional" start to the Ashes that saw her limited by a knee issue, Natalie Sciver-Brunt is ready to impose herself on the remainder of the series as England eye a remarkable fightback.

Sciver-Brunt's impact with the ball was severely limited during the sole Test at Trent Bridge, with the allrounder only sending down five overs in Australia's first innings and nine in their second.

Inflammation in her knee made it painful for the 30-year-old to run or even walk – making her first-innings knock of 78 even more impressive.

But not being able to play a full role in both her disciplines as her team lost by 89 runs and subsequently went four-nil down in the points-based series frustrated the England vice-captain.

Sciver-Brunt did not bowl in the first T20I at Edgbaston but took the new ball and sent down two overs on Wednesday evening at The Oval, and on Friday confirmed she would be able to bowl her full quota at Lord's on Saturday evening if required.

"I'm feeling good," she said.

"My knee's recovered pretty well from a little injection after the Test match.

"I had some inflammation in my knee which happened in my first spell of bowling in the Test match and it made it really painful to run and walk really … the Test match week was a weird emotional week for me.

"I mean, I've played pretty much my whole career as an allrounder and thrive off being able to contribute to everything in the game, to batting, bowling and fielding.

"So it was a bit emotional really that I couldn't do that and I felt like I was letting people down.

"I'm glad to be able to be in a good place to do that now."

Outside of her 78 at Trent Bridge, Sciver-Brunt has yet to fully impose herself on the series with the bat, dismissed without scoring in the second innings of the Test and for seven and 23 in the first two T20Is, while she is also yet to take a wicket.

England finally snapped a 10-game winless streak against Australia with their three-run victory at The Oval on Wednesday, but they still trail 6-2 in the series and need to win on Saturday and take out all three ODIs to regain the Ashes.

Having Sciver-Brunt firing on all cylinders will be critical if they are to pull off a miraculous comeback.

While conceding the backs-to-the-wall situation may have given England an edge at The Oval, Sciver-Brunt said England were trying to focus on the immediate tasks at hand rather than the imposing prospect of winning five games in a row against a side that has only lost twice in their last 35 white-ball matches.

"(Needing to win) makes the game a bit more simple, like there's no choice, you just have to go for it," she said.

"Maybe there's something to that, I haven't really thought too much along those lines.

"But I guess we're trying to keep the focus on ourselves.

"At the moment, we're trying to condense it down ... so talking about (winning) the T20 series in itself, thinking about the third game in that little section and then we'll move on to the ODIs.

"Trying to focus in on one game at a time is really important – I know that's what we say every time in a tournament but looking too far ahead can be dangerous."

CommBank Ashes Tour of the UK 2023

Australia lead the multi-format series 6-2

Test: Australia won by 89 runs

First T20I: Australia won by four wickets

Second T20I: England won by three runs

Third T20I: July 8 at Lord’s, London, 6.35pm (3.35am July 9 AEST)

First ODI: July 12 at The County Ground, Bristol, 1pm (10pm AEST)

Second ODI: July 16 at The Rose Bowl, Southampton, 11am (7pm AEST)

Third ODI: July 18 at The County Ground, Taunton, 1pm (10pm AEST)

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

England T20 squad: Heather Knight (c), Natalie Sciver-Brunt (vc), Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Freya Davies, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Issy Wong, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Danielle Wyatt