‌England players to miss WBBL for international schedule 

Arijit Kundu
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The England Cricket Board (ECB) has opted for strict action for players prioritizing franchise tournaments over international commitments. This could lead to several players missing out on the later half of the 2024-25 Women’s Big Bash League that clashes with the series against South Africa. 

England Women are scheduled to travel to South Africa for three T20Is, as many ODIs, and one-off Test between November 24 to December 18. However, the start of the fixture clashes with the last week of the WBBL which runs from October 27 to December 1. 

A similar situation arose in March this year when most English Women players preferred to participate in the second edition of the Women’s Premier League over their international games against New Zealand. The ruling body wants to avoid such circumstances in the near future, resulting in major names being ruled out for the last half of the Australian mega-event. 

"If a player is selected in the T20 squad, we're expecting them into South Africa on November 17 and if they're named in the ODI squad we're expecting them into South Africa on the 27th," Jonathan Finch, Director of England Women's Cricket, told ESPNcricinfo. 

Seven English players are a part of the WBBL. Among the top stars, Danni Wyatt joined the Hobart Hurricanes, Sophie Ecclestone and Heather Knight were retained by Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder at worth up to $A110,000 (depending on availability) respectively.

English youngster Alice Capsey was roped in by Melbourne Renegades from rivals Stars while wicketkeeper-batter Amy Jones returned to Perth Scorchers during the WBBL draft on gold $A90,000 deals. Hollie Armitage and Georgia Adams are two other exciting names are a part of the Sixers and Thunder respectively in the bronze price bracket for $A40,000.

"I've got a responsibility to England and we think that's fair - five or seven days out from a start of a tour - to come in, really focus in on what we're trying to do from that tour and go from there. Now where we're looking at our FTP for after the next 50-over World Cup and I think everyone is sensitive to not wanting to have any clashes. Even if we don't have the exact dates of the WBBL for instance, or the WPL, we have some indication of when they are so we can work out what that looks like,” added Finch.





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