England scrap April Windies Test to stage home red-ball Ashes warm-ups
England have cancelled the women's Test that was due to be played in the West Indies in April and will instead prepare for next summer's Women's Ashes with a series of red-ball matches staged in the UK. Sophie Ecclestone has taken five-wicket hauls in her last two Tests.
Nat Sciver-Brunt's side have played just one Test since January 2025 — a heavy defeat by India at Lord's — following their four-day meeting with Australia in January 2025, which they lost by an innings in Melbourne. The team have had limited red-ball match practice since that Ashes encounter.
England will stage four red-ball fixtures as part of their Ashes preparation, including a three-day game against Australia A and three intra-squad 'best v best' matches. The ECB expects to deploy 26 or 27 players across the various training camps and matches to assess squad depth.
The scheduled April Test in the West Indies has been removed from the tour, leaving the Caribbean leg as three T20 internationals and three one-day internationals only. It had been reported that staging a Test in the Caribbean might require financial assistance from wealthier boards.
"We would welcome any assistance of our much wealthier member boards," CWI chief executive Chris Dehring previously told BBC Sport. "It is very expensive to host cricket in the Caribbean."
However, BBC Sport understands the ECB's decision is not related to those financial discussions and the schedule change is viewed as a performance decision in line with giving England the best chance of winning the Ashes. West Indies have not played a women's Test since 2004, which was their only red-ball match in 47 years.
"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. 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."
The Ashes Test against Australia will be held at Headingley from 24-27 June and will be worth four points in the multi-format series; England will build toward that fixture with the India camp in January and the planned red-ball matches in English conditions.
