India women's team likely to pull out of England tour

London [UK], July 21 (ANI): The Indian women's team is likely to pull out of their upcoming tour of England due to the coronavirus pandemic.
India was originally slated to tour England in June this year, but it was pushed back to September because of Covid-19, ESPNCricinfo reported.
As per a report in ESPNCricinfo, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was then planning to turn the September tour into a tri-series, involving South Africa, England, India, but this plan has now been put on hold due to the surging of COVID-19 cases in India.
Now, England's bilateral series against South Africa which was originally scheduled to comprise of two T20Is and four ODIs will now be extended in order to give the team the most number of fixtures as possible in this season.
The venues for the South Africa series is likely to be announced, but Derby is likely to host the matches.
The ICC Women's World Cup is also slated to be played in February-March next year in New Zealand so all teams would be looking to schedule matches this year to gain adequate match practice.
24 England women's players have already been training since June at six different venues: Loughborough, Headingley, The Oval, Bristol, Hove and Chester Boughton Hall.
The ECB has repeatedly shown its commitment to the women's game, and last month, the board had awarded new retainer contracts to 20 domestic players. (ANI)