Perth Scorchers respond to questions over signing of English star Nat Sciver-Brunt for WBBL09

Perth Scorchers have hit back at questions over their recruitment of English superstar Nat Sciver-Brunt after she was lured west despite ruling herself out of the WBBL draft.

Perth Scorchers have defended their recruitment of the world’s No. 1 ODI batter after Australian captain Meg Lanning lamented Nat Sciver-Brunt being lured west.

The Scorchers last week announced the controversial signing of the English all-rounder after she had ruled herself out of September’s WBBL Draft due to a knee injury.

Sciver-Brunt would have been available to Lanning’s Melbourne Stars via their retention pick had she nominated for the draft. She last played in the WBBL in 2020, for a Stars team that lost the final to Sydney Thunder.

Lanning last week said she was “pretty disappointed” at Sciver-Brunt being cleared to join a rival team. Her injury improved in recent weeks, coinciding with fellow English international Danni Wyatt withdrawing from the WBBL after being drafted by the Scorchers.

Nat Sciver-Brunt and Meg Lanning were teammates in Perth. Picture: Gary Day.

Scorchers list boss Kade Harvey said Perth was one of four clubs that tried to sign Sciver-Brunt after BBL bosses gave her the green light to play in WBBL09.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that the opportunity to come into the Big Bash was off the back of Danni’s withdrawal. It wasn’t anything other than that,” Harvey told CODE Sports.

“Ultimately, it was then handed over to the Big Bash to decide whether Nat could be allowed into the competition and once she was allowed into the competition, she chose the Scorchers as one of four teams.

“It was the Big Bash’s decision to allow her into the competition and once that was the case, we were all given the opportunity to try and sign Nat. She just happened to choose Perth Scorchers. We can’t control that.

“The Big Bash were the ones that decided to let in the best player in the world, given her circumstances had changed with her injury.”

Nat Sciver-Brunt is the world’s top-ranked ODI batter. Picture: Gareth Copley/Getty Images

BBL boss Alastair Dobson said: “There are provisions in the contracting rules for players to become available outside of the draft should they be able to demonstrate a material change in circumstance at a later time.

“The League and Technical Committee were satisfied that these criteria had been met in Nat’s case, and as we saw previously in the BBL.

“Nat’s availability had changed due to an accelerated progression in her fitness following the knee injury that hampered her during the last few months.

“This progression now means the ECB are willing to release Nat to take part in the WBBL, where previously they were not. As such, we advised all clubs that Nat was available to be signed directly.”

The Stars drafted Alice Capsey and Maia Bouchier, and committed to Sophia Dunkley under the WBBL’s ‘direct nomination’ rule. Lanning was frustrated to miss out on Sciver-Brunt.

“She’s obviously one of the best players in the world and you want the best players playing in the competition,” Lanning said.

“But she sort of made herself unavailable initially, and all the players of her calibre went through the draft or the pre-signing and I guess she didn’t nominate for that.

Sciver-Brunt last played in the WBBL in 2020 with the Stars. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“We sort of feel like – well, I certainly feel like – we didn’t get the chance to exercise our retention rights that we would have had to her, had she nominated for the draft instead of coming in this way.

“Not only does that impact us this year, but moving forward as well now Perth have retention rights to her. It’s frustrating because I think the goalposts seem to shift a little bit and we didn’t get the chance to get access to her.”

Ironically, Sciver-Brunt and Lanning were once teammates for the Scorchers.

Sciver-Brunt is expected to join the Scorchers early next month.

Meanwhile, Harvey said Perth wasn’t “overly rapt” with being forced to choose between captain Sophie Devine and South African all-rounder Marizanne Kapp at the draft.

The Scorchers lost Kapp, one of the heroes of their WBBL07 triumph, to Sydney Thunder after opting to use their retention pick on Devine.

“You’ve got two of the best players in the world and you get forced to make a choice. We weren’t overly rapt with the draft for the WBBL,” Harvey said.

“I’m not sure it serves the same purpose (as it does) with the men.

“We were sort of forced into that. As much as we would have loved to have kept Kappy and Soph, the reality was that Soph played a really important role from a leadership perspective. That’s something we really value.”

He added: “I think when push came to shove, that was ultimately the deciding factor, but I don’t think anyone is happy to lose someone like Marizanne Kapp after we managed to attract her to the program. It was disappointing to have to lose her in that way.”

Originally published as Perth Scorchers respond to questions over signing of English star Nat Sciver-Brunt for WBBL09