England expect Ecclestone to play through pain in final bid

Spinner has a shoulder injury but Sciver-Brunt hopes she can play her part in semi-final

- Raf Nicholson

Nat Sciver-Brunt says she expects Sophie Ecclestone to play in today's World Cup semifinal against South Africa, despite the shoulder injury sustained in their match against New Zealand on Sunday.

A subsequent MRI scan on Ecclestone's left shoulder revealed a minor injury to the joint next to her collar bone.

Sciver-Brunt, the England captain, did acknowledge that Ecclestone might struggle to bowl her full allocation of 10 overs, but said the team were confident they had the options in their lineup to deal with that situation if it arose. Ecclestone bowled only four balls on Sunday, leaving England dependent on the part-time off-spin of Alice Capsey and the barely-ever-seen leg-spin of Sophia Dunkley to fill the void.

"She [Ecclestone] might not be 100%. Hopefully a bit of adrenaline will help her," Sciver-Brunt said. "But we showed in the game against New Zealand that we were able to adapt the bowling plans."