LONDON, England, Nov 11, CMC – The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has taken the decision to cancel their planned Test match against West Indies Women during their tour of the Caribbean in 2027.
England Women were set to take on Windies Women in a solitary Test in April, but will play just the three T20Is and three One Day Internationals.
The ECB has opted to prepare for the Women’s Ashes instead with a number of red-ball matches in the UK.
England Women have played just one Test – a heavy defeat by India at Lord’s – since their last four-day meeting with Australia in January 2025, which they lost by an innings in Melbourne.
Next summer’s Test against Australia, which is worth four points in the multi-format series, will be held at Headingley from June 24 to 27.
England will prepare for that with four red-ball matches. One of the games will be a three-day fixture against Australia ‘A’ before three intra-squad ‘best v best’ matches.
In addition, a dedicated red-ball training camp will be held in Bangalore in January.
“A 10-day warm-weather red-ball camp in India followed by four further matches in English conditions will provide Charlotte Edwards and her team with the appropriate game time to be ready for that challenge [of Australia],” said ECB chief executive Richard Gould.
“Best versus best in English conditions provides a valuable opportunity for the team and it also allows us to assess our strength in depth, give opportunities to more players and get a number of competitive multi-day cricket matches across a longer period into the wider group.”
West Indies have not played a women’s Test since 2004, which was their only red-ball match in 47 years.
CMC rb/26