As Nat Sciver walked back, Katherine Brunt and Sophia Dunkley gave her a warm hug. Brunt, who possibly had played her last match in the World Cup, spoke through eyes and hugs as words overpowered her. It felt like someone was taping the already broken heart only to stab it a million times more. In between the embrace and the acknowledgement of what Sciver has done, England were on the edge of their seat and there was hope. There was hope that Sciver would pull off something unimaginable.
A glimpse at the scorecard would tell you a different story. It would talk about how one-sided the game was, but the truth is, Australians had trouble solving the Sciver puzzle. They tried it once before at Hamilton. Though they grabbed the bigger picture both times, they couldn’t defeat Sciver.
Once again, on the final night, Australia failed before an unimaginable force called Sciver. She stood before Australia and the trophy with resplendent reverse sweeps as her weapon. She injected hope even though she had just a couple of players to support her. She made the whole team believe once again when she dragged Dean to a fifty partnership.
Even when Dean was dismissed, and Shrubsole walked in, a tiny little part of everyone wondered if Sciver could defy reality and defend the title. Her flamboyant confidence rubbed on us, and it felt all good to cheer for something which deep down we know is just too much to ask for. But hey, we have seen some supernatural, unearthly moments in this World Cup.
In fact, Sciver was a part of one such moment just a few minutes before coming into bat. Unfortunately, she was at the receiving end when Healy made the ball go full round, around the ground. Sciver had one of the worst economy rates of the night, and to make her night even worse, she dropped a catch that she would have usually grabbed at least nine out of ten times.
Maybe, everything triggered England’s leading run-scorer of the tournament to carry on, to climb a mountain all alone by shouldering the whole of England’s hopes. She came into the scene when England had lost two wickets and stayed until there were just two overs left.
She returned the favours that Healy dropped through her masterclass in the first innings. Sciver did get to her ton a few deliveries quicker than Healy and also brought the first six of the game. But Healy had support from the other end during her pursuit of greatness.
In the case of Sciver, even her shadow didn’t stay long as the sun began to settle down both in Christchurch as well as in England’s quest for a successful defence. Despite everything, Sciver’s show went on. She went at the same pace and had easy eights in almost every single over.
She continued to bother the bowlers, and a couple of overturned reviews were the closest Australia came to dismissing her, but they killed her support. Her teammates, who could’ve stayed there. In silence. As the closest spectators of Sciver’s concert. But nobody did.
When the curtain fell, and Australia caught Shrubsole, Sciver’s 148* fell from the Newspaper headline to a small column story that future generations couldn’t easily miss out.
Image courtesy: Kai Schwoerer-ICC
