Ecclestone

Spinners Charlie Dean, 24, and Sophie Ecclestone, 25, were other potential candidates but are lacking in captaincy experience.

For all the talk of Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, or even an outsider like Grace Scrivens taking on the England captaincy, it would have been a shock had anyone other than Nat Sciver-Brunt been given the job.

Ecclestone has been an outlier in a difficult year for England's women, as she becomes the first English woman to be named in the quintet since batter Tammy Beaumont in 2019.

Left-arm spinner Ecclestone, 25, is the world's number one ranked bowler in both white-ball formats, and surpassed Katherine Sciver-Brunt as England Women's leading T20 wicket-taker during the series against Pakistan.

England spinner Sophie Ecclestone says she has "moved on" and "learned from" her refusal to do an interview with Alex Hartley during the Women's Ashes in January.