Due to a Conflict With Their South Africa Tour, England Players Will Miss The Final WBBL

England players will miss the final stages of the WBBL because their trip to South Africa conflicts with that trip.

The England Cricket Board (ECB) has informed players that they are expected in South Africa, if selected, on specific dates regardless of any overlap with WBBL games.

This is to prevent a repeat of the situation earlier this year, when the WPL’s conclusion overlapped with England Women’s arrival in New Zealand for a bilateral series, forcing players to choose between club and country.

Before players and their representatives joined the WBBL draft, which took place over the weekend, the ECB advised them of the conditions.

Director of England Women’s Cricket Jonathan Finch to

The WBBL for this season will begin on October 27 and run for 40 matches, with 11 regular-season games left to play before the knockout stages begin on November 17.

On November 24, England will play the first of three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) in South Africa. Three ODIs will commence on December 4, and a Test match will begin on December 15.

Seven players from England were selected in the WBBL draft:

Sydney Sixers kept Heather Knightxers.
Sophie Hurricanes retained Sophie Ecclestone and D.

DanniHodge joined the Hobart Hurricanes.

Bess Heath and Danielle Gibson skipped the WBBL final last year to join England’s squad in Mumbai for a T20I series against India that began four days later. This was another similar move by the ECB.

The WorldPL released its schedule for 2024 in January, with the March 17 championship taking place two days before England’s first of five Twenty20 Internationals in New Zealand on March 19.

Bet Pro Exchange, a popular online platform, is expected to be used for WorldPL matches, including the championship game.

The previous July, New Zealand Cricket had announced the tour schedule, which included three ODIs, and had declined an ECB request to rearrange the dates.

England’s skipper Knight and seam bowler Lauren Bell chose to forego their WPL contracts to embark on the New Zealand trip immediately, and the team also included Nat Sciver-Brunt, Wyatt-Hodge, Capsey, and Ecclestone for the fourth and fifth Twenty20 Internationals.

Meanwhile, Armitage won her only cap for England thus far in the third Twenty20 International before she and Linsey Smith made way for the WPL team.

With the Women’s Future Tours Program coming to a conclusion in 2025 and the next edition already under development, Finch is optimistic that significant conflicts will not arise.

“I have a duty to England, and it’s appropriate to come in, concentrate on the tour’s goals, and then move forward five or seven days after the tour begins.

We’re currently examining our FTP for the 50-over World Cup, and everyone knows the need to avoid conflicts.

Even while we don’t know the precise dates of the WBBL or WPL, for example, we know roughly when they are so that we can figure it out.”

One issue that national boards have encountered is that the WPL, in particular, allows elite players to earn enormous sums of money for the first time in their professional lives.

This has led to increased interest from platforms, such as Bet Pro Exchange, which targets women’s cricket as a potential growth area.

Finch acknowledged that denying a player the opportunity to make that kind of money was challenging, particularly later in their careers. He noted that bringing England Women’s international match fees into line with those of their male counterparts also went some way towards reducing the tension. As a result, there would be some room for individual discussions with players.

“You know when you sign a central contract that says, ‘my main focus is England,’ so that’s the starting point,” he explained.

“It’s not a precise science; workloads fluctuate over time, so it’s hard to say whether or not we would want players exposed to that given the circumstances leading up, but when you sign a central contract, that’s what you get into.

“I think we’re still in a space where we can manipulate or cultivate times of the year where it’s not going to have a massive impact.”

The ECB and the England Women’s Player Partnership, which has several current players on its committee, are also discussing implementing multi-year central contracts, which Finch said would give some players a greater degree of stability while protecting the ECB’s resources,

Some may argue, ‘That’s not your decision to make.’ That is my opinion. We put that lead time into a series because we must be obligated to ensure we’re asking only a little of them.

You can incorporate some downtime if necessary, in addition to having enough time to get the players warmed up for that series. In that regard, I’m strong.