Senior England players to miss Sri Lanka T20Is for WPL 2027
England will tour Sri Lanka for three T20Is and as many ODIs • Getty Images
England will play a three-match T20I series in Sri Lanka ahead of the Women's Champions Trophy (in T20 format) from February 1 to 5 next year, which will clash with the final week of the WPL in India. England and Sri Lanka will also play a three-match ODI series in March, after the Champions Trophy, which will run from February 14 to 28 in India.
All three T20Is will clash with the WPL, which ends on February 7. The national boards may allow players still active in the WPL to continue playing in the WPL instead of appearing for their national side. In essence, both the WPL and the series in Sri Lanka will help players prepare for the Champions Trophy.
The inaugural Women's Champions Trophy is anyway scheduled to take place in India, with Sri Lanka - the original host - having been stripped of hosting rights by the ICC over government interference in Sri Lanka's cricket administration.
Following the Champions Trophy, England will return to Sri Lanka to play the ODIs from March 4 to 8. The ODI leg will be played entirely in Dambulla, with the T20Is in February set to be played in Pallekele.
England will also hold a red-ball training camp in India in January, selection for which will take place in the coming weeks.
The move follows head coach Charlotte Edwards' appraisal at the end of the home summer, saying her side would need to intensify their focus on Test cricket after India thrashed them by 270 runs at Lord's in July and with an Ashes series looming in the middle of next year.
"There will be a real focus on our red-ball cricket come December, January, February and leading into our English summer," Edwards said at the time. "Expect potentially some of the players to be removed from county cricket. I'll put that out there now because we've got a few best v best [planned]."
Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior writer at Cricinfo. @afidelf
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