Nat Sciver-Brunt has ticked off another first. The England all-rounder, turning out for Mumbai Indians, pieced together the Women’s Premier League’s inaugural century on a warm Monday evening in Vadodara, steering her side to a hefty 199 for 4 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
The landmark arrives after a string of near misses elsewhere in the competition. Smriti Mandhana fell for 96, Sophie Devine 95. Sciver-Brunt admitted those numbers were on her mind. “Yeah, obviously I’d seen a few players get out in the 90s, so I didn’t want to replicate that,” she said. “But I also wanted to get as many runs as possible for the team. I’m really pleased we could get up to that total, and personally really happy as well.”
Asked to bat first, Mumbai stumbled to 16 for 1 inside three overs. Sciver-Brunt walked in and promptly anchored two crucial stands: 131 from 73 balls with the returning Hayley Matthews, then 42 off 25 with captain Harmanpreet Kaur. Her timing was crisp rather than reckless, picking off gaps and keeping the scoring rate above nine an over without much fuss.
She reached three figures in the final over, lofting off-spinner Shreyanka Patil over mid-off before whipping off her helmet and forming a “T” with her arms — a gesture to young son Theodore Michael and wife Katherine. “Just a little nod to home,” she explained. “Katherine is obviously watching – well, hopefully. She’s actually a really nervous watcher, so she’s probably not watching, but she wanted a ‘T’ and she wanted me to get three figures, so here we go.”
Sciver-Brunt later reflected on the personal milestone: “I guess it’s my first T20 hundred, so I’m really happy to get over that milestone, and hopefully it’s not the last.”
Matthews, eased back in after a lengthy injury lay-off, contributed a busy 63 from 42 balls. The pair’s comfort against pace and spin alike left RCB’s bowlers short of answers. “Yeah, absolutely. Hayley will be so pleased to come back after a pretty long injury lay-off and get that kind of score. I really enjoy batting with her when I get the chance,” Sciver-Brunt added.
The hundred lifts her back to the top of the tournament run charts. Whether it proves decisive in the outcome of this fixture will depend on how well Mumbai’s varied attack defends the total under lights, but the psychological punch has already landed.
