The England Cricket Board (ECB) had requested New Zealand Cricket (NZC) to adjust the dates of England’s forthcoming women’s trip, but their request has been denied. Four players were ruled out of the first three T20Is due to their Women’s Premier League (WPL) commitments in India, and two more resigned from their franchise contracts.
NZC has confirmed the tour’s dates for July, which will include five T20Is and three ODIs from March 19 through April 6. The BCCI recently announced the WPL window last Wednesday, with the final scheduled for March 17 in Delhi, two days before the first T20I in Dunedin.
According to the reports in Espncricinfo, the ECB had asked New Zealand Cricket to consider shifting the series, but the Blackcaps management declined the England board’s request. The England Cricket Board informed the eight England players on WPL contracts that in order to be considered for selection in the first three T20Is, they must leave India before the knockout stages.
Speaking to the media, Jon Lewis revealed that England explored the idea of making all the players available for the series and blamed the late release of the WPL’s schedule, which was decided several months after NZC had confirmed the dates of England’s tour.
“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.”
“Yes, there are things that other boards could have done, but they’re things that are totally out of our control, to be honest. We’ve had to react to the situation as best we can… it’s quite a unique situation. It’s quite complex… we talk to everyone as individuals and work out what we think is the best plan for them.”
“[The series] was in our diary for a very long period of time, The WPL dates came out very late. Moving forward, all the boards around the world will create a window for the WPL similar to the men’s game,” Jon Lewis said.
Lauren Bell (UP Warriorz) and Heather Knight (Royal Challengers Bangalore) opted out of their contracts last week. Lewis will quit the WPL following UP Warriorz’s last group game on March 11, with assistant coach Ashley Noffke set to take over if the team advances to the knockout stages.
