Money Factor: England Star's Honest Reply On Missing Country's Matches For Women's Premier League

All-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt said money played a part in deciding to play for the England team in their upcoming series against New Zealand or Mumbai Indians in the second season of the Women's Premier League. Nat decided to play for the defending champions MI and will miss the first three games of the T20I series against New Zealand. The upcoming edition of the WPL will begin on Friday and will conclude on March 17. The England team will kick off their white-ball tour on March 19 in Dunedin.

It would be nearly impossible for Nat to board a flight and make it in time and be fit for the opening game. Ahead of the WPL season, Nat who went for a whopping sum of Rs 3.2 crore in the inaugural season, revealed that money played a factor in deciding to play for MI.

"Yeah, I mean, I would be lying if I said no. Having obviously gone for that much in the first year, yeah, it certainly came into consideration.

Hopefully, this weigh-up of club versus country doesn't happen again. I know we've see it happen with the men's side of things and continue to happen for quite a while, and still will. Hopefully, these clashes don't happen in the future, which I guess will keep the importance of international cricket and keep that focus for everyone," Sciver-Brunt told ESPNcricinfo's Powerplay podcast.

England Women's head coach, Jon Lewis is facing a similar dilemma as he is the coach of UP Warriorz. He will be with the franchise till March 11 and assistant Ashley Noffk will take over if the team progresses to the next stage.

Director of England Women's Cricket, Jonathan Finch called the players and allowed the players to make their own decisions. England skipper Heather Knight and pacer Lauren Bell decided to pull out while Nat, Sophie Ecclestone, Danni Wyatt and Alice Capsey will link up with the team ahead of the fourth T20I which will be played on March 27 in Wellington.

"It is such a hard one, because it's almost like it's a bit of an anomaly, like it'll - well hopefully - will not happen again. With the World Cup coming up, T20 is obviously important as well to our side, but hopefully with the decision that I've made, that will give a chance to some players to have a bit of confidence in themselves in the first three games and be able to show Lewy and Heather what they've got," Nat added.

Mumbai Indians will begin their campaign against Delhi Capitals on Friday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.