Women's T20 WC: England all-rounder Katherine Sciver-Brunt ends World Cup career following heartbreaking semifinal loss to South Africa

Cape Town [South Africa], February 25 (ANI): England bowling all-rounder Katherine Sciver-Brunt announced on Saturday that her World Cup career is over following a narrow loss to South Africa in the semifinal of the ongoing ICC Women's T20 World Cup on Friday.

England's narrow defeat against South Africa at Newlands brought an end to Sciver-Brunt's World Cup journey in the same country in which she made her ICC tournament debut 18 years ago.

Retirement has never been far from the Barnsley native's mind but with a new group of pacers coming through, she is now ready to say goodbye, first to World Cups.

"I have been thinking about retirement daily for two years," Sciver-Brunt said as quoted by ICC.

"It used to be after every tour, I would question what I was doing. But as it is drawn closer, I have thought about it a bit more seriously and it does creep into your mind when you are training, mainly because of the pressure other people put on you. The media do like to keep tabs on you. Are you close to the end? Is your body holding up? You get all those comments and then you start to think, 'Oh, am I slowing down? Should I stop? Am I embarrassing myself?"

"I have always said I would like to retire on top, where I am still wanted, I am still picked in the first 11, I am not less than what I used to be. That is how I have felt in the last six months, those things are starting to creep in where I can see somebody taking my role and doing it just as well."

"This is definitely the last World Cup and beyond this point, I am fairly close to it all being along the same line, so it would not be long," concluded the all-rounder.

At this World Cup, Sciver-Brunt played under a new name following her marriage to teammate Nat Sciver, but there is another title she hopes she has always been known by.

She added: "Looking back on my career, I would like to think I was Mrs. Consistent. I would like to be remembered as someone who was always at the top of my game and always contributing for my country, helping us in a winning cause and giving everything I had. The new name is a bit of a mouthful, is not it? The good thing is Nat can carry on my name, the legacy of Brunt will carry on which is great. Having my name associated with hers is also great because she is a bit of a legend in her own right now."

Sciver-Brunt may wish to forget her last game at a World Cup, going for 33 runs from her four overs before falling first ball in the run chase.

But there were bright moments, an excellent diving catch to dismiss Tazmin Brits for 68, proving she is still nimble despite being in the last few months of her 19-year career.

World Cups are where she made her name, posting figures of three for six in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2009 final in a year which saw England claim the ODI and T20 World Cups as well as the Ashes.

In 2017, she was part of the side that reclaimed the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in front of a sell-out crowd at Lord's and it was on the famous balcony where her proudest achievement began.

During England's celebrations, Katherine asked Nat to be her girlfriend and she would later ask her to be her wife with the two marrying in May last year.

With the end of her career on the horizon, Sciver-Brunt will continue working on the property business she began after her first back surgery in 2007.

She believes having the security of a career after cricket allowed her to play more freely and it is the piece of advice she passes on to her younger teammates.

That said, she is still struggling to imagine life without cricket, and without Nat by her side every day.

"You have always got to believe there is someone out there for you, but when you are so encapsulated in what you do, everything gets set aside. But if it is going to happen, it will happen naturally. I did not realise the kind of person I needed to be with, and Nat was a person, unlike anybody I have ever been with before."

"A lot of people say, 'how does she put up with you?' She has patience in abundance and empathy and she understands me and loves me for who I am. We just work really well together and complement each other, and there is never a day where we want to be apart. Coming into my retirement, she will be gone, but hopefully, the ECB will take me along. I will be slinging in the nets to all of them!."

Sciver-Brunt thought her career was over in 2007, not realising that back surgery, and the ones that followed, would in fact prolong her career.

Her back has continued to cause her issues but she has not let it stop her from steaming in with a face like thunder and a laser-like focus on the job at hand.

What will happen when the last ball is bowled, or even when that will be, is still up for debate, but what is certain is Katherine Sciver-Brunt will go out on her own terms.

In 141 ODIs, Katherine scored 1,090 runs at an average of 18.16, with two fifties. She also has 170 wickets in the format with the best figures of 5/18. She also has 590 T20I runs in 112 matches, with the best score of 42*. Katherine has 114 wickets in the shorter format. (ANI)