ECB in talks with India and South Africa for women's tri-series

London, June 10: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is currently in talks with their Indian and South African counterparts to host a tri-series later this year.

Indian women's team were suposed to play a bilateral series comprising three ODIs and three T20Is against England which remains postponed for the time being.

The women's T20 World Cup in Australia was the last big-ticket event to be held before the COVID-19 pandemic brought all sporting activities to a halt in March and ECB Chief Executive Tom Harrison is hoping there will be some international women's cricket this year if everything goes as per planned.

"Ultimately, we will get some international cricket, all being well. The plan is to get some international cricket for the England team later this summer. We're talking to the BCCI and Cricket South Africa about bringing their women's teams over to play a tri-series," Harrison said during the Tuffers and Vaughan podcast.

"So we've something to celebrate with the women's game, in September this year. We're desperate to continue the momentum, the growth in the women's game which has been so astonishing in the last few years," he said.

However, Harrison said a decision on inviting India for the tri-series will depend on how the country combats the contagious disease which is raging in the subcontinent with no signs of abating.

"There's a huge amount of work going on but we're not controlling every part of this decision. One of the things that has become clear about this crisis is when you're dealing with international teams, you're dealing with the COVID environment here and overseas as well," he said.

UK has so far seen over 285000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with more than 40,000 deaths.

"If we were in the eye of the storm a few weeks ago, in this country, it very much now looks like that has moved to the subcontinent where they're experiencing their very tough moment with this pandemic.

"And hopefully, they can get over that quickly which will enable us to bring the team over," he said.

"Hopefully we continue to make progress in defeating this virus and we can have a good tri-series with India and South Africa towards the end of the summer."

Over 2.7 lakh people have been infected by the coronavirus in India with over 7700 deaths reported so far.