England women will travel to New Zealand for first-ever inbound A tour consisting of three T20s and as many 50-over matches across multiple venues in the South Island, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) announce on Friday.
New Zealand Cricket’s Head of Women’s High Performance Liz Green, said the A series was part of ongoing efforts to remove the gap between domestic and international cricket.
“Welcoming a strong England A team this summer aligns with our aim to build an aspirational pathway programme for our best female players,” said Green. “The recently-completed women’s Ashes series showed off the depth and strength of the English playing programme and it’s exciting to have their best players coming to our shores this summer. A tours provide opportunities for more players to test themselves at that next level, see what international cricket looks like and how they compare. It’s going to be challenging as England is a really strong side, but it’s a great opportunity for those aspiring to be future White Ferms,” Green said.
She added that the opportunity to be selected for this tour would motivate domestic cricketers during the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield and Super Smash campaigns.
“Having the carrot of playing against international opposition at the end of the summer will certainly add another dimension to the domestic season,” she expressed.
She further added that the series would be build on the momentum of last summer’s re-introduced women’s North v South T20 series.
“The uptake of the North v South series was awesome and it was especially great to see the way in which the players embraced the rivalry and the opportunity to test themselves. The England A tour will be another extension of this and we aim to continue to offer these development series to our next tier of players each season,” she said.
New Zealand A v England A schedule
March 16 – 1st T20, Sir John Davies Oval, 1pm
March 17– 2nd T20, Sir John Davies Oval, 1pm
March 20 – 3rd T20, Sir John Davies Oval, 1pm
March 23 – 1st 50-over, University of Otago Oval, 11am
March 28 – 2nd 50-over, Saxton Oval, 11am
March 30 – 3rd 50-over, Saxton Oval, 11am