England Cricketer Sophia Dunkley has shown her excitement over the recently announced India tour of England for the one-off test match followed by ODIs and T20Is. Team England will start their summer campaign with the test match where they’ll be hosting India in June-July, and later New Zealand in September. Post the two countries touring England, the English cricketers will face Australia at the Ashes.
In the past decade, only 8 Test matches have been played all over the world by women, of which 6 games were played by England and Australia as part of the Ashes. The last time India played a test match was in 2014. Because of this, arranging test matches for women cricketers was on top of the priority list for the authorities.
The 4-day Test Match will be played from June 16-June19 at Bristol. Talking about the same, Dunkley said- “Playing Test cricket is a very rare occurrence in the women’s game, so I think it’s exciting that people want to see women’s Test cricket. It’s a really exciting direction. I know quite a lot of the girls have not played a lot of Test cricket, but to have the opportunity to play the historic game of cricket, it’s very, very exciting.”
🗨️ 22 Year old England’s batting all-rounder Sophia Dunkley is excited for the opportunity to play a Test Match later this year. #WomensTest @dunkleysophia pic.twitter.com/48u53KhuSH
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) April 15, 2021
“I’ve not played [the long game] very much in the past, but it’s something that I’d love to play. Obviously, the men get to play Test cricket all the time and it’s such a renowned format of cricket in the men’s game. So to get the opportunity to get some whites on and play cricket for four or five days would be incredible,” she added.
The 22-year-old Leg-break bowler is really excited to witness the upcoming season of cricket as the team will be playing various tournaments. Apart from the India and New Zealand tour, tournaments like The Hundred and the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy are scheduled to happen this year.
“I’m really excited. I think it really shows that there’s a lot of really good cricket around in the country, and if you’re not playing for England, you’re still getting good-quality cricket and still showcasing what you can do. I think, with the opportunities that we’re going to get this summer, it’s going to be great: very busy but very, very exciting.” Dunkley concluded.
(Source: Morning Star UK)
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