Nat Sciver-Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, Danni Wyatt and Alice Capsey will miss England’s first three T20s against New Zealand next month due to their Women’s Premier League commitments.
Confirmation last week that the WPL final will be held on March 17 in Delhi left a logistical headache for England, who begin their New Zealand tour two days later with the first of five T20s in Dunedin.
While captain Heather Knight and seamer Lauren Bell backed out of WPL stints, England gave their blessing to Sciver-Brunt, Ecclestone, Wyatt and Capsey playing a full part in the tournament in India.
The quartet will return for the fourth and fifth T20s, with England head coach Jon Lewis initially going to the WPL to lead UP Warriorz before heading to New Zealand a week out from the opening match.
“We explored every option available to us to make sure all our players were available during the New Zealand series but that didn’t quite work out as we would have liked,” said Lewis.
“Yes, there are things that other boards could have done but they’re things that are totally out of our control. We’ve had to react to the situation as best we can.
“Heather and Lauren really wanted to prioritise playing those first three games in New Zealand and the rest of the players felt – and we backed both ways – playing under pressure in the WPL gives them a really good opportunity to grow.
“I think, moving forward, all the boards around the world will create a window for the WPL similar to what happens in the men’s game (with the Indian Premier League).”
WPL rules forbid mid-tournament replacements and England’s players were informed staying on for the entire campaign would mean having to miss T20s against New Zealand on March 19, 22 and 24.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the absences of several regulars for the start of the trip is Tammy Beaumont, who has an opportunity to press her claims ahead of the T20 World Cup in the autumn.
Beaumont has been stranded on 99 T20 caps since January 2022, conspicuously overlooked despite a resurgence in form last year in which she starred in both the multi-format Ashes and then The Hundred.
While Wyatt and Sophia Dunkley are a settled opening combination in T20s for England, Beaumont, a Test and ODI regular, can muddy the waters a few months before the World Cup in Bangladesh.
“Tammy’s played some really good cricket,” said Lewis, whose side also play three ODIs against the White Ferns in April. “We asked her to go away and improve in certain areas.
“She went away and did that and she’s pushing her case to open the batting. I think that’s probably the only position she can bat. I hope that she’ll get the opportunity that she probably deserves.”
Uncapped batting all-rounder Hollie Armitage is in England’s squad for the first three T20s as is slow left-armer Linsey Smith, who is in line for her first international appearance in four years.
Mahika Gaur played two T20s for England last summer but the 17-year-old left-arm seamer has been omitted as she is studying for her A-levels.
England’s T20 squad: H Knight (captain), H Armitage (first three T20s), T Beaumont, L Bell, M Bouchier, A Capsey (last two T20s) C Dean, S Dunkley, S Ecclestone (last two T20s) L Filer, D Gibson, S Glenn, B Heath, A Jones, N Sciver-Brunt (last two T20s), L Smith (first three T20s), D Wyatt (last two T20s).
England ODI squad: H Knight (captain), T Beaumont, L Bell, M Bouchier, A Capsey, K Cross, C Dean, S Dunkley, S Ecclestone, L Filer, D Gibson, S Glenn, B Heath, A Jones, N Sciver-Brunt, D Wyatt.
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
CWI targets domestic T20 competition in 2025 to identify Caribbean representative(s) for 2028 Olympic Games
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow says plans are already afoot to host a domestic T20 competition next year to determine the Caribbean representative(s) for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shallow, once again welcoming cricket’s return to the Olympic Games, pointed out that his administration is already in dialogue with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hierarchy to stage the domestic competition in 2025.
Cricket, which last featured at an Olympic Games in 1900, was always set for a long-awaited return to the global multi-sport showpiece, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year confirmed it and four other sports—baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash—for the LA Games.
“To add cricket to the agenda in the next Olympics is certainly going to be something tremendous, as we did in the Commonwealth Games a couple years ago when we had one of our teams representing the females. We at the time chose our original women’s tournament, and the winner at the time was Barbados, so they represented the region,” Shallow said.
“We anticipate something similar will be done unless they tell us all the teams can come and participate, which would be ideal, but it is unlikely for that to happen,” he added.
Shallow also explained that the CPL champions cannot represent the region at the Olympic Games given that the tournament is franchise-based and involves players from other parts of the world.
As such, he revealed that he has engaged CARICOM leaders regarding plans for a domestic T20 competition from which the winner or top finishers would secure the coveted Olympic Games spot(s).
“We have been in discussion with CPL for them to fund a domestic T20 tournament starting next year. I think Miles Bascombe and his team have already scheduled a window for that next year in 2025. Once we are able to have that tournament, then we can use that to determine which team or teams will participate in the Olympics on behalf of CWI,” Shallow shared.
“We can’t use the CPL as it is now because it’s franchises. But in the domestic tournament that we’re having, which will still have a commercial model to it but not to the extent of CPL, but that will more than likely be territories instead of franchises, so we will be able to identify teams,” he noted.
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