England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt has challenged her teammates to demonstrate resilience during their historic Test match against India at Lord's, starting Friday.
The four-day fixture marks the first time the England women's team will play a Test at the iconic venue, with over 30,000 tickets sold—a UK record for a women's Test.
Sciver-Brunt acknowledged the lingering disappointment from Sunday's seven-wicket loss to Australia in the T20 World Cup final but welcomed the immediate shift to the longest format.
"There's some disappointment about the ICC Women's T20 World Cup final," she said.
The squad returned to training on Wednesday, boosted by several new players.
"The beauty of being here now is that it's a change of format and the polar opposite to T20 cricket.
We've got some fresh faces into our squad who are bringing some great energy as well," said Sciver-Brunt.
The team is focusing on the childhood dream of playing at Lord's to move past the heartbreak.
"I'm sure the disappointment of the final won't have left lots of people, but we are looking forward to such a special week here at Lord's, doing something that we dreamt of as kids.
It's a great time to be a women's cricketer," she added.
England has beaten India only once in 15 Test meetings, with the last victory in 1995.
"I think there's a lot of resilience that needs to be shown during a Test match and ride the waves of energy that you'll have," said Sciver-Brunt.
Potential Test debuts could be handed to Alice Capsey, Tilly Corteen-Coleman, or Mady Villiers.
"But some proper determination will go into every day we'll be playing here," she said.
The captain emphasized patience against India's disciplined batting lineup.
"India have had lots of success and some very experienced top batters that love batting for a long time," said Sciver-Brunt.
She noted that India's batters are drilled to value their wickets highly.
"It's really drilled into the India batters that 'the value of your wicket is so important'. They will pose some great challenges for us to navigate," she said.
Sciver-Brunt remains confident her team can respond to tactical challenges.
"I'm sure we'll be thrown lots of different things while we are out there and hopefully we can throw some things back," she said.
The match also serves as an international farewell for veteran opener Tammy Beaumont, who announced her retirement effective at the end of the weekend.
"She's seen cricket through all of the changes that we've had," said Sciver-Brunt.
Beaumont ends her 17-year international career as England's leading centurion in one-day internationals.
"Seventeen years playing the game is a huge achievement in itself; she's obviously going to finish her career as the highest hundred scorer in the ODI format," said Sciver-Brunt.
The captain praised Beaumont's mental toughness and consistency.
"She's scored a lot of runs for our team and we've relied on those runs a lot of times.
She is someone who has got great determination and resolve in that, 'no one's going to get me out today, this is my day and I'm scoring runs'," said Sciver-Brunt.
The team aims to honor their departing teammate with a strong performance.
"That attitude will certainly be missed. Personally, as a friend, she will be missed in the team as well.
I hope that we can send her off with a great week here at Lord's," said Sciver-Brunt.
