England Women to start training from June 22

Twenty-four England women players will return to individual skills based training on Monday June 22 ahead of a potential tri-series against India and South Africa in September.

England’s women were due to play India in late June but that series was postponed because of Covid-19 while South Africa were originally set to play two T20Is and four ODIs in a bilateral series in September. However, the proposal is now for a T20I tri-series against both nations to take place towards the end of the summer to preserve as many of the women’s fixtures as possible.

Although the details of the tri-series are yet to be confirmed, players returning to training is a pleasing sign. It was only five weeks ago that Clare Connor, the ECB’s managing director of women’s cricket, said there was a risk that no women’s cricket would be played this summer as the ECB prioritised the men’s fixtures in a bid to mitigate as much of the financial impact of Covid-19 as possible.

The players, including captain Heather Knight, Nat Sciver and Sophie Ecclestone, will train across six venues under the same medical guidelines and bio-secure conditions that have been in place for the men’s squad, who returned to training mid-way through May. Initially the sessions will be individual before the players move on to smaller group training.

The six training venues are the ECB’s National Performance Centre in Loughborough, Emerald Headingley, The Kia Oval, Bristol County Ground, 1st Central County Ground in Hove and Chester Boughton Hall CC in Lancashire.

Jonathan Finch, director, England women’s cricket, said: “We remain hopeful of playing cricket this summer and it’s exciting for this group of players to be able to return to training. We’ve had great support from the first-class counties with the use of their venues, and we’re grateful to them for that, and hopefully this is one step closer towards England Women returning to the field this summer.”

Squad:

Tammy Beaumont (Kent/London Spirit), Lauren Bell (Berkshire/Southern Brave), Katherine Brunt (Yorkshire/Trent Rockets), Kate Cross (Lancashire/Manchester Originals), Alice Davidson-Richards (Kent/Northern Superchargers), Freya Davies (Sussex/London Spirit), Sophia Dunkley (Surrey/Southern Brave), Sophie Ecclestone (Lancashire/Manchester Originals), Georgia Elwiss (Sussex/Birmingham Phoenix), Katie George (Hampshire/Welsh Fire), Sarah Glenn (Worcestershire/Trent Rockets), Kirstie Gordon (Kent/Birmingham Phoenix), Amy Jones (Warwickshire/Birmingham Phoenix), Heather Knight (Berkshire/London Spirit), Emma Lamb (Lancashire/Manchester Originals), Nat Sciver (Surrey/Trent Rockets), Anya Shrubsole (Berkshire/Southern Brave), Bryony Smith (Surrey/Welsh Fire), Linsey Smith (Sussex/Northern Superchargers), Mady Villiers (Essex/Trent Rockets), Fran Wilson (Kent/Oval Invincibles), Lauren Winfield (Yorkshire/Northern Superchargers), Issy Wong (Warwickshire/Birmingham Phoenix), Danni Wyatt (Sussex/Southern Brave)