WPL 2024: Nat Sciver-Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone among top English players available for second season

Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone are among the top English stars set to be available for the second season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Friday announcing two squads for the upcoming tour of new Zealand.

Besides Mumbai Indians all-rounder Sciver-Brunt and UP Warriorz left-arm spinner Ecclestone, Delhi Capitals all-rounder Alice Capsey and Ecclestone’s UPW teammate Danni Wyatt are also set to be available for WPL 2024 that is expected to take place in March. The four players will miss the first three T20Is in New Zealand and will join the squad for the remainder of the tour from the fourth T20I, which takes place on 27 March.

England captain Heather Knight and seamer Lauren Bell, however, will be available for the entire duration of the New Zealand tour, comprising five T20Is and three ODIs, as they had earlier pulled out of the WPL.

While Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) named South Africa’s Nadine de Klerk as Knight’s replacement, Bell, who was to play alongside fellow Englishwomen Ecclestone and Wyatt, has been replaced by Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu.

According to ESPNCricinfo, the ECB had made an unsuccessful request to New Zealand Cricket (NZC) to try and shift the dates of the limited-overs fixtures, which had been announced back in July. The BCCI, however, had only revealed the window for the second season of the WPL last Wednesday, with the final taking place on 17 March — two days before the tour officially kicks off.

“We explored every option available to us to make sure all our players were available during the New Zealand series, but that didn’t quite work out as we would have liked,” England head coach Jon Lewis said in the report.

Seamers Kate Cross and Issy Wong too are participating in the WPL but haven’t been named in the T20I squad. Cross, however, will feature in the ODI series that takes place in the first week of April.

England squads for the tour of New Zealand:

First 3 T20Is: Hollie Armitage, Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Lauren Filer, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Heather Knight (c), Linsey Smith

Last 2 T20Is: Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Heather Knight (c), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danielle Wyatt

ODIs: Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Heather Knight, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danielle Wyatt.