England allrounder Nat Sciver-Brunt has revealed that she missed the first T20I against Pakistan after having her eggs frozen with a view to having a family.
Sciver-Brunt was not involved at Edgbaston last weekend, due to what was described as a "minor medical procedure". She has now spoken publicly about the process in a conversation with her wife, former England seamer Katherine Sciver-Brunt, on the PCA's Under The Lid podcast.
"In the period between getting back from New Zealand [where England toured in April] and this [series], I thought it was a great time to go through the egg-freezing process, creating embryos and putting them in the freezer for future use," she said.
"Katherine and myself would love to start a family but I'd also like to continue playing cricket. We are lucky in that there are more options than one. We're just working out the best way for us to go about it. I'd like to carry a baby when I finish playing cricket and I think Katherine wants to carry a baby as well.
"England have been really good. The sports science and medical department are really supportive and have helped me along the way, making sure coming back to cricket has been smooth. After the procedure you're wiped out for quite a few days."
On missing the first T20I, she said: "I'd only just started back to exercise, so wasn't quite ready [to play]."
She is expected to be involved in the second match against Pakistan, to be played in Northampton on Friday evening.
Katherine, who retired last year, said they had begun to explore the process because "there is a timeframe on how fertile you can be", with Nat, 31, hoping to being involved in the 2028 Olympics before making any further decisions on when to have children.
"If Nat was 24 she might want to have a child, then come back and play. At 31, it's on the verge," Katherine said. "Freezing the eggs now and having healthy eggs to come back to - it's great to be able to have that choice because it's not cheap and very invasive."