Sky Sports to televise England women v Pakistan in 2016
Tuesday 1 December 2015 11:29, UK
Sky Sports will show live ball-by-ball coverage of all six of England women's games against Pakistan women next summer.
The teams will contest a three-match Royal London One-Day International series in June before playing three NatWest International Twenty20 games in July.
Pakistan women last toured England in 2013, when England won a two-match ODI series 2-0 and drew a two-match IT20 series 1-1.
This time, the ODIs will form England's fifth round of matches in the ICC Women's Championship - the qualification tournament for the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup in England.
Clare Connor, Director of England Women's Cricket at the England and Wales Cricket Board, said: "The introduction of the ICC Women's Championship has brought context and meaning to every ODI series that we play.
"As we approach the business end of the competition next year with World Cup qualification the prize, every match and every point carries huge significance.
"This summer we enjoyed record crowd attendances for the Women's Ashes, and it is fantastic to see more and more people buying tickets year-on-year to watch the England women's team play."
The first two ODIs will take place at Leicester's Grace Road and Worcestershire's New Road on June 20 and 22 respectively, with the third played at the County Ground, Taunton, on June 27, where England women memorably beat Australia in the opening match of the Women's Ashes series earlier this year.
The match at Grace Road will be the first time that the ground has hosted international women's cricket in ten years, after England women last played a drawn Test match against India there in 2006.
The three match NatWest IT20 series will then be played on July 3, 5 and 7 at the Bristol County Ground, the Ageas Bowl and the Essex County Ground. The second match at the Ageas Bowl will be played immediately before the men's NatWest IT20 between England and Sri Lanka.
"The women's game continues to expand and reach new audiences and I hope we can maintain this momentum throughout next summer," said Connor.
"All the venues that will be staging games against Pakistan have the aspiration of reaching new fans and achieving capacity crowds. This is exactly the ambition we need after such a well-supported Ashes summer."
Next year's tour by Pakistan will coincide with the launch of the first Women's Cricket Super League. This major new development will help to support greater participation and encourage higher levels of performance for the women's game in England. The competition will feature six teams and will receive a £3 million investment from the ECB over the next four years.
England women v Pakistan women international schedule 2016
20th June: 1st Royal London ODI*^, Grace Road, Leicester
22nd June: 2nd Royal London ODI*^, New Road, Worcester
27th June: 3rd Royal London ODI*^, The County Ground, Taunton
3rd July: 1st NatWest IT20, Bristol County Ground
5th July: 2nd NatWest IT20+ Ageas Bowl, Southampton
7th July: 3rd NatWest IT20, The Essex County Ground, Chelmsford
* ICC Women's Championship
^ Reserve day: as per the ICC Women's Championship Playing Conditions, in the event of the match not being completed on the scheduled date, a reserve day (the following day) is in place for each of the Royal London ODIs.
+ Double-header with men's NatWest IT20 (England v Sri Lanka)
