September 4, 2024

England Players to Miss WBBL Finals Due to South Africa Tour Overlap

ECB Aims to Resolve Club vs. Country Conflicts with New FTP

England players will miss the final stages of the WBBL due to a scheduling clash with their tour of South Africa. To prevent a repeat of earlier conflicts, like the overlap between the WPL and England’s New Zealand series, the ECB has set clear expectations for players. If selected for the South Africa tour, players must prioritize national duty over WBBL commitments. The ECB communicated these requirements before the recent WBBL draft.

“If a player is selected in the T20 squad, we’re expecting them into South Africa on November 17 and if they’re named in the ODI squad we’re expecting them into South Africa on the 27th,” Jonathan Finch, Director of England Women’s Cricket, told thewicketinsider. “That’s been reflected in everyone’s availability when they’ve gone into the draft.”

The WBBL 2023 season starts on October 27, with 11 regular-season matches remaining from November 17 before the knockout stages. England’s tour of South Africa, which begins with the first T20I on November 24, will overlap with the WBBL, leading to potential player absences from the tournament’s final stages.

In the recent WBBL draft, seven England players were signed: Danni Wyatt-Hodge (Hobart Hurricanes), Sophie Ecclestone (Sydney Sixers), and Heather Knight (Sydney Thunder) at platinum level (up to $110,000/£56,000), Alice Capsey (Melbourne Renegades) and Amy Jones (Perth Scorchers) at gold level ($90,000/£46,000), and Hollie Armitage and Georgia Adams at bronze level ($40,000/£20,000).

Addressing Scheduling Conflicts: ECB’s Efforts to Balance International and Domestic Tournaments

The ECB had a similar issue last year when England players missed the WBBL final to join the squad for a T20I series in India. The 2024 WPL final will clash with England’s first T20I in New Zealand, but the ECB has been informed of these conflicts and is working to resolve them in future schedules.

With the current Women’s Future Tours Program ending in 2025, Finch is hopeful that future scheduling conflicts will be better managed to avoid these issues.

“What we have to get better at is having indicative dates when the tournaments are taking place,” he said. “That’s difficult because you’ve got broadcast complexities and all that kind of thing, but I think if we can get that pretty much nailed on, we shouldn’t have that problem.”

“I’ve got a responsibility to England and we think that’s fair – five or seven days out from a start of a tour – to come in, really focus in on what we’re trying to do from that tour and go from there.”

“Now where we’re looking at our FTP for after the next 50-over World Cup and I think everyone is sensitive to not wanting to have any clashes. Even if we don’t have the exact dates of the WBBL for instance, or the WPL, we have some indication of when they are so we can work out what that looks like.”

National boards face challenges with players having to choose between international duties and lucrative opportunities in the Women’s Premier League (WPL). For instance, Nat Sciver-Brunt earned £320,000 as one of the top-paid overseas players in the first WPL auction.

Finch acknowledged that denying players such significant earnings, especially later in their careers, is a tough decision. To address this, he mentioned that there will be room for individual discussions with players. Additionally, aligning England Women’s international match fees more closely with those of their male counterparts helps ease some of the tension around these scheduling conflicts.

Balancing Central Contracts and Player Well-being: ECB’s Approach to Managing Player Availability

“You know when you sign a central contract that you’re signing a contract that says, ‘my main focus is England,’ so that’s the starting point,” he said. “It’s not an exact science, things change – workloads over a period of time – as to whether we would want to have players exposed to that depending on what the lead-up looks like, but when you sign a central contract, that’s what you’re buying into.”

“I think we’re still in a space where we can manipulate or cultivate times of the year where it’s not going to have a massive impact.”

The ECB is discussing with the England Women’s Player Partnership, which includes several current players, the possibility of introducing multi-year central contracts. Finch believes these contracts would provide players with more security and help the ECB manage its resources more effectively.

“You’ve got a welfare perspective for players so the thing that was sticking out for the New Zealand one was I wasn’t willing for a player to get on a plane at the end of their competition, fly in and play within 24 hours,” he said.

“People might say, ‘that’s not your choice to make.’ Well, I think it is. We’ve got a responsibility to ensure that we’re not asking too much of them and that’s why we put that period of time leading into a series. Not only does it give you time to get the players up and running for that series, it also allows you to build in a bit of decompression time if you need to. That’s something that I’m quite strong on.”

“The panacea will be that our players are available without worrying about whether they’re available for the whole tournament or not. I’m never going to take that [case-by-case discussion] away but we’re hopeful that we won’t get to that point.”