Nat Sciver confident Surrey Stars can make late finals bid
BY MARCUS HOOK
Skipper Nat Sciver is confident the other Surrey Stars batters will follow her lead as they bid to make a late run for Finals Day.
Stars have only won three of their first eight games and if they are to finish in the top three victory against Southern Vipers at Hove today (Tuesday) is a must.
While the 25-year-old is averaging 34.80 and has a strike rate of 141.46, her international team-mates have struggled for form. Dane van Niekerk has scored just 93 runs and Sarah Taylor 118.
Apart from Sciver, who hit an unbeaten 95 against Lancashire Thunder at the Oval, the only other players to post in excess of 51 have been Sophia Dunkley, against Vipers on the opening day, and Lizelle Lee against Thunder at Old Trafford.
But Sciver believes there is still time for that to change. “It’s by no means over for us but hopefully we can quickly build some momentum in the tournament,” she said.
“With the calibre of batting we’ve got I’m sure we can win a few games. Perhaps we just have to take the positive option a bit more.”
Surrey’s biggest issue has been in the powerplay. Against Vipers they were 18 for 4, slumped to 17 for 3 in the home match with Thunder and were 31 for 4 against Loughborough. When they did make a good start against Storm – they were 60 for 1 in the powerplay – they went on to win.
“There have been too many games when we’ve lost wickets in the powerplay,” added Sciver. “When we beat the Storm Lizelle and Bryony Smith gave us such a good start that it allowed the rest to come in and play with freedom.”
Only eight players have scored more runs in the Super League so far than Sciver, who has been working with Stars’ batting coach Jonathan Batty.
“I have scratched around a bit in a few games and then it’s clicked and I have got a score, that’s been the theme of the summer for me really,” she added.
“I hope I can keep it going – towards the end of the international summer it started happening for me and I was really proud of my innings against Lancashire last week, it’s a shame it didn’t help us get over the line.
“But I have done a little bit of work with Jon Batty, our batting coach. It’s brilliant to have someone with his experience in our set-up but I’m sure his shoulder is almost falling off with the number of balls he’s thrown at us!”
Stars final KSL group fixture is this coming Saturday(August 18) against Western Storm at the Oval.
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