Women’s T20 World Cup 2026: ‘Like a duck to water’ – Sophie Ecclestone confident Charlie Dean will shine as stand-in captain

England Women will take on Scotland Women at Headingley on June 20 without regular captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, who has been sidelined after aggravating a calf injury during the closing stages of England’s victory over Ireland in Southampton.

As a result, Sciver-Brunt will miss the upcoming matches against Scotland and the West Indies, with Charlie Dean set to lead the side in her absence. Dean previously captained England in T20I series victories against New Zealand and India, guiding the team to 2-1 wins in both contests ahead of the World Cup.

Meanwhile, Sophie Ecclestone revealed that Sciver-Brunt remains in good spirits despite the setback. Ecclestone also expressed confidence in Dean’s leadership, highlighting her growing experience as captain and noting that the two players share a similar approach to leading the team.

“Not ideal that she’s missing the next two games but Deano’s going to take charge and it’s obviously a really exciting place to be back in charge and captain at the World Cup. Charlie’s obviously captained recently. It’s been really cool to play with her for a bit and it’s quite nice for her to not come in blindsided now. She’s been captain for a few games of England now, so it’d just be like a duck to water again, I reckon,” said Ecclestone as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“It’s pretty weird not to have Nat in a World Cup game, but Charlie’s been amazing… she’s been such a great captain, everyone feels so calm under Charlie and I feel like we’ve actually not even spoken about it recently. It’s just the norm that if Nat’s not fit, then Charlie’s captain and that’s fine,” she added.

Left-arm spinner Kirstie Gordon, who represented England at the 2018 Women’s T20 World Cup before recently switching allegiance to Scotland, will be one of the key players to watch. Gordon impressed in Scotland’s match against the West Indies Women, maintaining a tidy economy rate and providing crucial control with the ball.

Meanwhile, Rachel Slater expects Scotland, who qualified for the tournament through the qualifiers, to adopt a similarly aggressive approach against England as they did against the Caribbean side.

“It just comes from confidence, knowing we deserve to be here and knowing that if we actually play our best and bowl well, a good ball is a good ball no matter whose hand it’s coming out of. So just trying to take that element out of it, of like, ‘oh my God, I’m bowling at XYZ’. A good ball is a good ball on whatever pitch, whoever you bowl it at, and whoever’s bowled it,” said Slater.

“It’s the exact same. We don’t need to approach any game any differently. Just keep doing the basics well and hopefully do that for a little bit longer in those high-pressure moments and you get over the line in a game like that,” she added.