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Nat Sciver was announced as the winner of the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of 2022.
Sciver produced another memorable year in an already stellar career, racking up five half-centuries and two centuries in 2022 to be England’s top performer in the year with the bat. She finished second in the year in the run-getters chart behind Laura Wolvaardt, amassing 833 runs at an average of 59.5 and a strike rate of 91.43.
She reserved her best for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022, making 436 runs in the tournament at an average of over 70. She finished third in the overall run charts behind the Australian duo of Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes but recorded a better average than the two.
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Sciver took a short break from the game later in the year but returned with aplomb to help England record a 3-0 series sweep over the West Indies in the Caribbean.
As though she was never away, Sciver made scores of 90 and 85 to finish as the leading run-scorer in the series.
Sciver’s best came in the final of the Cricket World Cup against Australia, where she single-handedly kept England in the hunt with an unbeaten 148 off 121 balls.
Chasing Australia’s lofty total of 356/5, Sciver produced a knock for the ages, dragging her side from 191/6 to within the range of an unlikely win.
Sciver walked in with England in a spot of bother at 38/2 and remained there until the end, unsettling the Aussie bowlers with her flair-filled strokes.
The all-rounder hit 15 fours and a six in her epochal innings that could have led her side to World Cup glory if not for the frequent dismissals of partners at the other end.
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