West Indies women to tour England for T20I series in September

Men’s international cricket has been up and running since June as England conducted their cricket matches in a bio-secure bubble. However, women’s cricket is still seeking a restart in proceedings. England and West Indies have again taken the first steps in ensuring that. West Indies have confirmed a five-match T20I series against England women in September. This will be the first international women’s cricket match between major nations since the T20 World Cup final in March 2020.

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The England Cricket Board was actively seeking an international assignment for their women cricketers. However, first India and later South Africa withdrew from scheduled tours. West Indies have given a green signal and they will be England’s first opponent. The series shall commence on September 21 and all five matches are to be played in the biosecure bubble at Derby.

The third T20I, on Saturday, 26th September, will be shown live on the BBC and it will become the first international women’s fixture shown on free-to-air TV in the UK since the 1993 World Cup final, according to an ECB release.

Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, said, “There were 86,000 fans in attendance at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final in March and the direction of travel in the women’s game in England and Wales has been relentlessly positive over the last few years. That momentum must continue despite the challenges of Covid-19, and we do not underestimate our role in driving that agenda.”

His counterpart, Johnny Grave, Cricket West Indies (CWI)’s CEO added, “We are delighted to be able to confirm this tour and re-start our women’s programme. It has been a real challenge to put everything in place at short notice but knowing that our women’s team will be hosted in the same biosecure environment as our men’s team, following all the established protocols, has enabled us to confirm the tour in under two weeks since we first spoke to the ECB about the potential opportunity.”