England have cancelled their scheduled Test in the West Indies in April and will instead prepare for the Women’s Ashes with a number of red-ball matches in the UK.
Nat Sciver-Brunt’s side have played just one Test – a heavy defeat by India at Lord’s – since their last four-day meeting with Australia in January 2025, which they lost by an innings in Melbourne.
Next summer’s Test against Australia, which is worth four points in the multi-format series, will be held at Headingley from 24-27 June.
England will prepare for that with four red-ball matches. One of the games will be a three-day fixture against Australia A before three intra-squad ‘best v best’ matches.
In addition, a dedicated red-ball training camp will be held in Bangalore in January.
England expect to use 26 or 27 players across the different training camps and matches.
It means England’s schedule in the West Indies has been revised to three T20s and three one-day internationals only.
The change comes after it was suggested the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) might need to offer financial support to Cricket West Indies (CWI) to allow the Test to take place.
“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.”