WPL shockingly blamed by England Women's coach for 'rammed' Ashes schedule

The England women’s cricket team is set to play a grueling multi-format series in Australia with barely any breathing room, all thanks to India’s Women’s Premier League (WPL) next year.

Within just three weeks, England and Australia will face each other in three ODIs, three T20s, and a demanding four-day Test match as part of the highly anticipated Women’s Ashes 2025 series.

This jam-packed schedule is causing a controversy, with England Women’s head coach Jon Lewis expressing his frustration over the lack of space between the matches of the upcoming Women’s Ashes 2025 in Australia.

Jon Lewis expresses concerns over the packed Women’s Ashes 2025 schedule due to WPL 2025

The reason behind this tightly packed schedule is the upcoming Women’s Premier League 2025 (WPL 2025) in India, which has forced Cricket Australia (CA) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to compress the Women’s Ashes 2025 series.

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The five-match multi-format series between Australia Women and England Women will be played across multiple cities from January 12 in Sydney. However, there is only a four-day gap between the third T20 and the subsequent four-day pink-ball Test in Melbourne, which irked the England Women coach as he feels the players will face a major challenge.

The England coach, Jon Lewis, has stressed that the Women’s Ashes 2025 schedule isn’t ideal, saying both he and the players would have preferred more time between the white-ball games and the one-off Test match. Despite requests for more flexibility, the schedule remains tight which will test players’ physical endurance and mental resilience.

There’s no flexibility because of WPL and Christmas: England Women's coach

Jon Lewis was quoted as saying by The Guardian: “My preference would be that there’s more space between the games, and the players’ preference would be as well. I’m pretty sure we would have requested more space between the white ball [games] and the Test match, but the schedule came back as it was. It won’t be straightforward. The schedule is pretty rammed, close together. There’s no flexibility because of WPL and Christmas.”

Meanwhile, the Women’s Premier League 2025 (WPL2025) will begin on February 21, but players will need to arrive in India earlier for preparation and media duties. Six players from the England women’s Ashes squad will be taking part in the five-team tournament WPL 2025 in February-March next year.

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Six England players from the Ashes squad take part in the WPL 2025

These England Women players are Alice Capsey, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Kate Cross, Sophie Ecclestone, and Dani Gibson, who will play in the WPL 2025. Notably, the ECB already announced the squad for the upcoming Women’s Ashes 2025, featuring Heather Knight, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, Maia Bouchier, Lauren Bell, Ryana MacDonald-Gay, and Bess Heath.

The highly anticipated Women's Ashes 2025 will kick off with the first ODI starting on January 11 at North Sydney Oval in Sydney. The second ODI will be held on January 13 at Junction Oval in Melbourne, and the final ODI will take place on January 16 at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

After the ODI series, England and Australia will face each other in a T20I series. The first T20I will be played on January 20 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, followed by the second T20I on January 23 at Manuka Oval in Canberra. The final T20I will be held at Adelaide Oval on January 25. The one-off Test match will be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from February 2.