The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) could provide financial support if necessary to ensure that England’s women play a Test in the West Indies next spring.
The game is a crucial prelude to England’s 2027 Ashes campaign and is scheduled as part of a multi-format series. Reductions in player contracts are among the cost-cutting initiatives that Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced. A scheduled women’s Test match against Australia was also cancelled earlier this year, but the remainder of the tour proceeded as planned. The wider tour, which consists of three T20s and three ODIs, is not currently in jeopardy, and there have been no discussions about calling off England’s Test.
The ECB and CWI have not discussed cancelling the test. Although the precise dates and locations have not yet been announced, the broader tour, which will include three T20Is and three ODIs in April and May of next year, is also not in jeopardy.
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Richard Thompson, the chair of the ECB, stated that he hoped the Test would proceed and that there were no expectations that it would be cancelled when asked by BBC Sport if it was in doubt. However, Thompson responded that the board would look at the matter if it came up when asked if the ECB could have to offer financial assistance to guarantee the Test’s success.
The host board pays the visiting team’s travel and lodging expenses under reciprocal agreements between governing bodies. Because players from both teams frequently have to travel between islands, those expenses may be higher in the West Indies. CWI disclosed last week that during the previous 15 years, the company had spent over $80 million on domestic flight travel.
Thompson gave the unique example of Zimbabwe’s team playing a Test in England last year, for which the visitors received a visiting fee from the ECB.
“We want that Test to play out. It is very important for us because our first women’s match in the Ashes is the Headingley Test, so we need a good red-ball warm-up. We have got to be playing somewhere, and we would much prefer that to be the West Indies. We all have a huge sympathy for the West Indies; we all want to see a successful West Indian nation,” Thompson said.
The lone Test of the series will take place at Headingley in June, marking the beginning of the women’s Ashes. It will also be the first men’s and women’s Test to be held north of Nottingham next summer. Since losing every match during the Ashes tour of Australia in early 2025, England has only played one Test, which was against India at Lord’s earlier this year. While the West Indies’ most recent Test match was against Pakistan during their 2004 tour, they have not played the West Indies in a women’s Test since 1979.
England’s preparations for the Ashes include the Test in the . The team will travel to India for a 10-day red-ball training camp in January. Prior to the 2023 Ashes between Australia and England played Test-style warm-up matches were played; a similar setup might be employed in 2027. Additionally, plans to provide domestic players with some red-ball cricket early in the upcoming season are being finalised.