Maia Bouchier will grow in her role in the middle order with time, says Natalie Sciver

New Zealand fought their way back in the three-match series as they won the second T20I in Hove with four wickets in Sophie Devine’s 100th T20I. England, playing without their regular captain Heather Knight and experienced campaigner Katherine Brunt, struggled with the bat as they could only post 127 runs in the first innings. Stand-in captain Natalie Sciver believes her team needs to reflect on the execution of plans in the next game.



The first match of the series saw England hit the massive total of 184 in 20 overs in Chelmsford and New Zealand fell short by 46 runs. Sciver believes a lack of partnerships throughout the innings hurt their chances of posting a big total in the second match.



“Obviously different surfaces and the slightly different team as well. The less experienced one as well with Katherine (Brunt) missing out,” she said. “Unfortunately, we just fell away at the end of our batting innings and couldn’t quite get the partnership together that would have got us 10-15 more runs that we needed probably to take it deep in the second innings.”



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England did not get the start they wanted with a ball as Devine built two solid partnerships with Suzie Bates and Amy Satterthwaite which laid the solid foundation for visitor’s chase. Sciver admitted that multiple things contributed to the loss.



“There were a lot of things that contributed to us not getting over the line. We were slightly off with the ball as well and (gave away) a few too many extras. But people made a brilliant impact. Maia (Bouchier) on her debut game batted brilliantly and Mady (Villiers), we know she is a brilliant fielder and she seems to like this ground. Her impact was brilliant as well.”



Maia Bouchier, who represented Southern Brave in The Hundred, made her England debut in the second match. She ended up being the second-highest run-scorer for the home side in the match behind Danielle Wyatt. For Sciver, Bouchier was able to show what she is capable of at the international stage.



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“That’s why she is here. She had a great Hundred. She was part of that Southern Brave side and batted in the middle and scored some crucial runs for them. I am sure she will grow into the role of batting in the middle, and she bowls, so that’s an option as well.”



The decider match of the series will be played at County Ground in Taunton on Thursday (September 9). “We have a few days before the next match. We will reflect and probably have a couple of good training sessions to make sure it’s nothing other than just execution. It’s not long since we played at Chelmsford, but it’s only a few days, and things change quickly. Hope we can get over the line in Taunton,” Sciver concluded.