The England women’s team is all set to embark on a cricketing journey to India, featuring a series of 3 T20Is and a single Test match in December of this year. Remarkably, this one-off Test will mark the first of its kind in India since 2014.
The DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai is set to be the venue for the upcoming women’s Test match between India and England, scheduled for four days from December 14 to 17. As for the T20Is, they’re planned to take place at the Wankhede Stadium on December 6, 9, and 10. Organizers are hoping to draw larger crowds by hosting back-to-back T20Is on the weekend. However, it’s important to note that these dates are still tentative and await confirmation from the respective cricket boards.
England’s team is expected to land in India in early December, although a few players might arrive a bit later, particularly if they’re participating in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) final on December 2. Notably, the WBBL includes 15 English players, with at least one representing each club, as reported by Cricinfo.
“The opportunity to come and play a Test match in India is bucket-list stuff for a lot of players. I’ve been in India for a couple of weeks now and you can see that girls have role models in that team now,” Kate Cross, the England seamer, told ESPNCricinfo.
In 2019, the England women’s cricket team embarked on a tour of India. They faced a tough battle in the ODI leg at the Wankhede Stadium, where they ended up on the losing side with a 2-1 series result. However, the team came back strongly in the T20I series in Guwahati, clinching victory with a clean sweep of 3-0.
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“We played in front of over 12,000 people in Guwahati. The chance to come back here and play as an England team again is going to be special. The WPL [Women’s Premier League] has obviously helped with the growth of the women’s game. After the summer we’ve just had with the Ashes, you want to be playing in front of big crowds and there is an appetite for the women’s game in India that just keeps growing. If it’s well advertised, people will come and watch,” Cross further added.
England’s women’s team hasn’t had a Test match in India since 2005, and in the past 18 years, India has hosted just one women’s Test, which resulted in India defeating South Africa by an innings in 2014.
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