ECB unhappy with WPL dates clashing with New Zealand and England T20 and ODI series

By CA Junior Staff

Updated - 03 Feb 2024, 01:04 PM

ECB and WPL
ECB and WPL (Credits: Instagram)

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In a recent development, the English Cricket Board has expressed its disapproval of the scheduling of the 2nd edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) by the BCCI. The tournament starts from February 23 onwards and ends on March 17th, 2 days before the England Women’s team embarks on a white-ball tour of New Zealand.

The ECB therefore, requested the New Zealand Cricket Board to move the series dates beyond its original start but it could not be materialized. And that happened because the NZC had announced the schedule last year in July and the WPL’s late release of the schedule has posed a little bit of a problem to England for their 5-match T20I and 3-match ODI series.

The series kicks off on March 19th with the first T20I set to be played at the University Oval ground in Dunedin before the remaining 4 T20Is on 22, 24, 27, and 29th March. The ODI series will then commence on April 1 at the Basin Reserve while the remaining 2 ODIs take place on the 4th and 7th of April at Seddon Park. 

It will be an important series, especially the T20I series for both England and New Zealand as they will begin their preparation for this year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, which is slated to start from September onwards.

England head coach Jon Lewis confirmed that the ECB had tried its best to convince the Kiwi board to move the dates ahead but later blamed the BCCI for taking to too long to release the WPL schedule.

“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.” – Jon Lewis said to ESPNCricinfo.
“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.” – Lewis added. 
The ECB has also stated that it has asked its players to head over to New Zealand pre-maturely before the knockouts of the WPL but that scenario looks quite far from happening. “All players participating in the WPL were given our backing to remain in India for the duration of the tournament.” – an ECB official said to Cricinfo.

England Head Coach Jon Lewis Unhappy With WPL Scheduling, Stating New Zealand Series Is A Brilliant Opportunity To Test Themselves

England Women’s team head coach Jon Lewis who himself will be a part of the WPL with UP Warriorz as head coach, claimed that he will be leaving India regardless of the team’s position in the league. He will be doing so because he thinks the New Zealand series was a perfect opportunity for the English team to test themselves.

“We tried to make sure that all the players that are in New Zealand with us will get a really fair crack, rather than worrying about Nat Sciver-Brunt getting knocked out on one day, flying in three days later, and taking their position in the team.” – Lewis concluded. 

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England National Cricket Team Jon Lewis New Zealand national cricket team WPL 2024

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