England coach Jon Lewis has criticised the “rammed” Women’s Ashes schedule, blaming the Women’s Premier League in India for the compressed nature of the tour.
The series begins on 12 January in Sydney and involves thee ODIs, three T20s and a four-day Test in five different cities – all in the space of three weeks. With only four days between the conclusion of the third T20 and the start of the pink-ball Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, there is also no time for the usual red-ball warm-up.
“My preference would be that there’s more space between the games, and the players’ preference would be as well,” Lewis said. “I’m pretty sure we would have requested more space between the white ball 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.”
The WPL officially begins on 21 February, but it is likely that players will be required in India for acclimatisation and media commitments prior to the tournament getting underway. England’s Alice Capsey, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Kate Cross, Sophie Ecclestone and Dani Gibson will all be participating.
England announced their Women’s Ashes squad on Monday, with four players in line to make their Ashes debut – Freya Kemp, Linsey Smith, Bess Heath and seamer Ryana MacDonald-Gay, who impressed in her recent Test debut against South Africa at Bloemfontein.
Lewis said that England are deliberately taking a larger-than-usual squad (19 players in total) due to the challenging schedule, and expect to have to use all their available resources to get through the series. “It will be tough for players to play all the games,” he said. “I don’t think you’ll see consistent selection across the board from either side.”
The challenge is heightened by the fact that both sides have players who are making gradual comebacks from injury: Lewis said that Gibson, Cross and Freya Kemp were all “working their way back to full fitness”, while Australia captain Alyssa Healy is playing as a pure batter in their current ODI series against New Zealand, after picking up a knee injury in the WBBL.
Lewis also threw his weight behind a red-ball domestic competition for English players as a way to ensure better preparation for future Ashes. “Every time we play Test cricket, it should be underpinned by multi-day cricket at domestic level,” he said. “If you’re doing it at senior international level, there should be some way that the players are able to understand how to play. I think there’s space for it in our domestic calendar.”