Grace Scrivens says she is undaunted by Sunrisers’ underdog status going into Saturday’s Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final against South East Stars at Leicester.

Reaching the final caps a fairytale turnaround for the Sunrisers, who failed to win a match in the first three editions of the competition but notched a surprising seven-wicket success in their semi-final last weekend against the table-topping Northern Diamonds.

South East Stars are also making a first-time appearance in the final, but are previous holders of the 20-over title, the Charlotte Edwards Cup.

“We can take incredible confidence coming out of that semi-final,” Scrivens, her team’s captain, said. “It’s probably the least stressful game of cricket I’ve ever watched as a Sunriser. We’ve been playing really good cricket, we’ve scored 230 plus in three of the four last 50-over games which has been really nice, and we got here more convincingly than Stars did last weekend.”

Stars played out a nail-biting semi-final win against Southern Vipers, the defending champions, last weekend, winning by three wickets with seven balls to spare thanks to a 90-run eighth-wicket partnership. But they will be buoyed by the return of their hard-hitting captain Bryony Smith, last seen smashing a half-century for England against Ireland in Dublin.

Scrivens was a surprise omission from the England squad which toured Ireland, but said that while she was disappointed to miss out, it had “worked out for the best”. “I’m playing in a final on Saturday for a team I’m so passionate about captaining,” she said.

Fittingly, it was a half-century from their 20-year-old captain that launched Sunrisers into their first final: Scrivens is widely seen as being responsible single-handed for their turnaround in fortunes. As in 2023 she has been their leading run-scorer; since she took over at the helm last September, their win percentage has increased from 7% to 61%. Her leadership abilities are such that she is already being touted as a future senior England captain, despite having not yet made her full international debut.

“I love captaincy,” Scrivens said. “It’s about getting the best out of players, and building great relationships. That’s what I keep trying to do. I just love getting in the battle. I’m competitive. I want to get teams over the line.”

Saturday also marks the end of five seasons of women’s regional cricket: a restructure led by the England and Wales Cricket Board means that as of 2025, women’s teams will once again be hosted by counties. Sunrisers morph into Essex, while Stars are becoming Surrey.

Scrivens is expected to sign as Essex’s first professional female captain. In a coup for the women’s game, Essex have also confirmed to the Guardian that they will be hosting all their 50-over women’s matches at Chelmsford in 2025.

“There’s elements of sadness when things finish, but there’s also an element of excitement that things are going to start as well,” Scrivens said. “This competition has been great for women’s cricket – it’s provided a platform that we’d been missing for so many years. But going into alignment with the men is a really good thing.”