.png)
11 hours ago
4
Given how composed Alice Capsey has recently looked in an England shirt, it’s hard to imagine her getting nervous – but with only days to go until England’s World Cup opener on Friday against Sri Lanka, she admits she is struggling. “I doubt I’ll sleep very well [on Thursday],” she says. “I think it might take me a little while to wind down and switch off from all the nerves and excitement.”
Capsey has been through a lot since she first came to public attention five years ago at the age of 16 by scoring a blazing half-century at Lord’s in the Women’s Hundred: this will be her fourth World Cup. But she is acutely aware that a home tournament brings pressure on a whole different scale. “This is a once-in-a-career opportunity,” she says. “We’ve got an amazing opportunity as a team to create some really special memories, not only as a group, but for the nation.”
Her desperation to emulate the success of the Lionesses and the Red Roses is apparent – and Capsey also has memories of England’s most recent World Cup triumph at Lord’s in 2017 to spur her on. “I was in the crowd, and I remember telling my mum when they were lifting the trophy: ‘Wow, I want to do this. This is so cool.’ The atmosphere at Lord’s was unbelievable.”
Now, she has the chance to fulfil that ambition, with her mum and a huge contingent of friends and family watching on. “The Capsey Massive will be there for sure. They’ll definitely make themselves heard. They’re just as excited as we are.”
Capsey is now a global star who will earn £130,000 playing for Birmingham Phoenix in this year’s Hundred, but she loves nothing better than heading home to the dairy farm in Surrey where she grew up. It’s her family, she says, who kept her grounded during an exceptionally difficult two years which began when she was dropped from England’s T20 side in November 2024. Two months later, she shared in the 16-0 Ashes humiliation, contributing only 24 runs across four matches.
“The amazing thing is that family are there for whatever you need,” she says. “Regardless of whether things are going well or not, they’re always in your corner. They’re always going to love you regardless. They’re always going to turn up.
“As much as the Ashes was a difficult time, and it did at points feel like it was all-consuming, being able to go out for dinner with mum and dad and hear what they’d done that day, whether it be see a botanical garden and a different flower that mum really liked and wanted to have in their garden – it put things into perspective.”
Her eve-of-World-Cup routine, then, will involve reading carefully through her notebook to remind herself of her plans against the Sri Lankan bowlers, before checking in with the family WhatsApp group. “One thing I love getting is a picture of my [almost 2-year-old] niece at bath time in the evening. Those sorts of things really bring me back down to earth.”
Arguably, being dropped in 2024, ended up being a blessing in disguise. For the first few years of Capsey’s international career she struggled to live up to her reputation as England’s Next Big Thing, and now admits she felt under pressure to stand and deliver: “I got sucked into trying to be a boundary hitter.” Not being selected showed her that the strategy wasn’t working, forcing her to sit down with batting coach Alex Gidman and figure out a different approach.
The Australian legend Ellyse Perry, she says, was an inspiration. “She’s someone who is very classical, plays the ball on its merit. She’s adapted her game and raised her strike rate, but she hasn’t changed the shots she plays – she’s not switch-hitting it for six, but she’s trusting her timing.
“I’m a timer of the ball, I’m about finding the gaps, not trying to force it. For me, trusting my strengths is a big thing. I definitely feel I’m in a much better place as an all-round cricketer this summer than I was last year.”
The results speak for themselves: since May, she has twice surpassed her highest score for England, recently striking a series-winning 82 from 43 balls against India at Taunton last week. If a home World Cup really is once in a career, then Capsey – who was by no means an automatic pick in England’s T20 side three weeks ago – is peaking at exactly the right time.
Intriguingly, her uptick in form has coincided with the decision by head coach Charlotte Edwards to hand her a new role: official reserve wicketkeeper to Amy Jones. Capsey hasn’t kept wicket at any level of cricket since she was playing age-group for Surrey, but is nonetheless delighted with this turn of events. “Wherever I go, my keeping gloves are always in my bag. For a while, a couple of girls would take the piss out of it a little bit, and be like, ‘oh, you’ve got your keeping gloves still’. So when Lottie [Edwards] suggested it [in March], I jumped at the chance, and I’ve been loving it.”
What this means for the future is unclear: right now, it involves long training days, given that Capsey is also determined to keep up with her off-spin bowling. The only sure thing is that this 21-year-old will always, somehow, find a way to be at the heart of the action. As England dare to dream of triumph at Lord’s on 5 July, that can only be a good thing.
