Women's World Cup: England's Katherine Brunt on pain, retirement and Muse

Katherine Brunt's England career was almost over before it began because she wanted to see Muse and Kings of Leon at V Festival.

«My sister Rachel managed to sort tickets and I was really excited about them,» she tells BBC Sport. «I almost passed up the offer to play for England because of it. It seems pretty silly now, but at the time I was deadly serious.»

It was August 2004. The 19-year-old Brunt was painfully shy and had been put off by a trial she didn't enjoy. When captain Clare Connor asked her to play in a Test against New Zealand, Brunt had to be talked in to it by Rachel.

«I'd never aspired to play for England,» she explains. «I thought that level was a bit too scary for someone as shy I was. It was a huge deal and I palmed it off as nothing, until my sister smacked me around the back of the head and explained what I was turning down.

»She convinced me I was making a huge mistake, that I would always regret it, and if I didn't like it she would pick me up to take me home. Reluctantly, I said yes, and it was the best decision I've ever made."

More than 17 years on, Brunt, now 36, is still to see Muse and Kings of Leon play live, but she does have more international wickets than any other woman to play for England. She has won three Ashes series and the T20 World Cup. She is embarking on her fifth 50-over World Cup, looking to lift the trophy for a third time.

She puts her longevity down to determination and «good surgeries» on a body wrecked by almost two decades of stomping in to bowl fast.

«Every day I wake up and it is a mystery what I will feel,» Brunt says.

«I've had plantar fasciitis for nearly two years. That will make some people cringe, because it's awful, a shooting pain in your heel when you walk. It's worst