England cancel Women's Test against West Indies

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed the cancellation of the scheduled women's Test match against the West Indies during England's planned tour of the Caribbean in April 2027. The tour's white-ball structure, however, remains unchanged, with three One-Day Internationals and three Twenty20 Internationals still set to go ahead.

The ECB’s decision to remove the Test comes as they finalize preparation for their 2027 home Women's Ashes against Australia, which is set to begin with a four-day Test. 

The England hierarchy believes that additional red-ball preparation in familiar home conditions will give the players a better chance to compete against Australia, thus shortening the Caribbean tour to slot in practice matches back in their homeland.

"The ECB is grateful to Cricket West Indies for agreeing to its request, and for the understanding and collaborative approach taken in these discussions," the board said in a statement.

The ECB were initially willing to fund the Test, given CWI’s current financial constraints, to maximize England’s Ashes preparations, with ECB chair Richard Thompson saying the board would "definitely look at it." 

"Look what we did with Zimbabwe two years ago,” Thompson said. “Look, it will be awful for the West Indies. We want that Test match to play out. It's very important for us because our first women's match in the Ashes is the Headingley Test match. So we need a good red-ball warm-up. We've got to be playing somewhere, and I think we'd much prefer to be playing in the West Indies."

The proposed Test would have marked a return to the longest format of the game for the West Indies after more than two decades and follows CWI’s cancellation of the proposed Test against Australia early this year.