England Women will begin their one-off Test with India on Wednesday on a used pitch in Bristol, a decision that has been met with criticism by pundits, former players and fans.

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India, who are yet to lose a game in England in the format, will fancy their chances of a win after it came to light that the two teams will be playing on a pitch that hosted a men’s T20 Blast game last week. India, with a plethora of spin options, could possibly go into the game with two specialist spinners, with Deepti Sharma and Harmanpreet Kaur capable of turning their arm over as well.

England skipper Heather Knight, speaking to the media during the pre-match press conference, termed the development as “not ideal”, whilst also revealing that a request to get a fresh wicket for the game was denied.

 

After a barrage of criticism, an ECB spokesperson said: “We are all disappointed that the wicket for the LV= Insurance Test match against India will have had 37 overs played on it. We know that England Women deserve a fresh wicket and we are sorry that we were unable to provide that in this instance.

“With the Test only being added to the calendar in mid-April, coupled with the lack of available first class grounds, we knew a fresh TV pitch was going to be a challenge. We accept that this issue shouldn’t have arisen and we will make sure it doesn’t happen in the future.

“With the exception of Hove – the venue for the second Vitality IT20, for which a hybrid wicket will be used – all other white-ball matches against India will be played on fresh wickets including the opening Royal London ODI at Bristol on the 27th June.”

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Women's Cricket