The most anticipated tournament, Women’s Ashes are all set to begin on June 22. Ashes will kick off with a one-off historic five-day test match which will be followed by three T20I and three one-days. Before the test match 2 warm-up games were played by both the teams against the ‘A’ teams of their counterparts.
Just a day before the test match starts, England A will compete against Australia A in their first T20 match. The T20 will be played at Loughborough on Wednesday, 21st June. For the first T20 match against Australia A, England A’s squad has recently undergone a few changes.
Alice Capsey and Freya Kemp have been added to the England Women’s A team for their inaugural T20 match against Australia A, marking Kemp’s return to international play following an injury.
Kemp, the 18-year-old allrounder, returned early from England’s tour of the Caribbean in December with a back stress fracture. She returned in a batting-only role for Southern Vipers in the Charlotte Edwards Cup earlier this month. Capsey played for England in the three-day warmup match against Australia A scoring nine runs and bowling seven overs.
Mahika Gaur, the 17-year-old allrounder who has represented UAE at the Under-19 level and plays regional cricket for Thunder, trained with the senior England group during their preparation camps earlier this month and was also selected for England A alongside Bryony Smith of South East Stars and Southern Vipers’ Linsey Smith.
A total of five players were added to the England A squad for the T20 opener. The changes in the England A squad for the first T20 are as follows:
IN: Alice Capsey, Freya Kemp, Mahika Gaur, Bryony Smith, and Linsey Smith
OUT: Kirstie Gordon, Eva Gray, Eve Jones, Grace Scrivens, and Danielle Wyatt
England A squad for the T20 opener against Australia A:
Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Alice Davidson-Richards, Freya Davies, Charlie Dean, Mahika Gaur, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Freya Kemp, Paige Scholfield, Bryony Smith, Linsey Smith, Lauren Winfield-Hill (c)
England A Squad Update for 1st T20 🚨
Mahika Gaur, Bryony Smith, Linsey Smith, Alice Capsey, and Freya Kemp added to the squad ✅
They replace: Kirstie Gordon, Eva Gray, Eve Jones, Grace Scrivens and Danielle Wyatt.#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/2rzkhrbSzH
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) June 20, 2023
The England Women’s squad for the test match has also undergone a slight change. Alice Capsey, who was previously a member of the team, has been dropped from the test squad for Wednesday’s match between England A and Australia A. Her test debut will now have to wait a little longer.
In order for Alice Davidson-Richards to play in the T20 game between England A and Australia A, she too has been released from the test squad along with Alice Capsey. Davidson-Richards, who made a century on her Test debut against South Africa in June, took part in a three-day practice game between England A and Australia last week. She scored 34 runs and finished with a 0 for 84 from her 12 overs.
🚨 England's Revised Sqaud for the Ashes Test 🚨
15 down to 13, with Alice Capsey and Alice Davidson-Richards missing out.
What do you think of this squad? 🤔#CricketTwitter #Ashes2023 pic.twitter.com/22yOJdcZxA
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) June 20, 2023
England squad for Women’s Ashes Test match:
Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Kate Cross, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Dani Gibson, Amy Jones, Emma Lamb, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Issy Wong, Danni Wyatt