Sciver happy to see Keightley's progress as a coach

England allrounder Natalie Sciver feels there is no transition period in the set-up and says she is happy to see Lisa Keightley return to Perth for their match against South Africa on February 23.

Sciver was one of the players who was coached by the Keightley in the  England academy set up when she was in-charge from 2009 to 2015. The Australian has wealth of experience as a coach and was recently at the helm of things for Perth Scorchers in the Women's Big Bash League. Before that, she was also the head coach of Western Australia for a considerable amount of time.

“It’s quite nice to have gone full circle with her,” said Sciver. “She was my first coach at academy level and it’s the same situation for seven or eight players in our side."

“I’ve played under her for Perth Scorchers in the Women’s Big Bash League too but it’s a little bit different when you’re an overseas player in a tournament like that as coaches don’t want to step on each other’s toes. "

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Keightley has now been handed the reins to coach a new-look England side which sees quite a few young faces such as Sarah Glenn, Mady Villiers and Freya Davies in the mix. England are placed in Group B alongside West Indies, Thailand, Pakistan and South Africa. They finished as runners-up last year and have a chance to go one step further to bag their second title after the 2009 win under Charlotte Edwards.

England begin their World Cup campaign against South Africa at WACA, a ground which is familiar to Keightley.

“It will just be like another day at the office,” she said. “I have worked around the WACA for the last four years, so I will be quite relaxed because I know the ground and conditions well.”

“South Africa have a lot of game-changers but so do we, so it will be about who can hold their nerve at the start of the tournament. I think we have been ticking along nicely and when we get to the game on Sunday, it is a matter of turning on the switch and stepping it up. We need to get our power play right then we will be very competitive and get the scores we need to win.”