England women to tour Sri Lanka for three ODIs

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed that the women's cricket team will tour Sri Lanka for a three-match One Day International (ODI) series as part of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Women's Championship - which also acts as the qualification tournament for the upcoming 2017 Women's World Cup, to be played in England.

All the three matches will be played at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo, with the first match due to be played on November 12, 2016. The second match is set to be played on the 15th with the final encounter on 17th.

The series will count as the seventh and final round of ICC Women's Championship games with the top four teams gaining automatic slots in the World Cup. The remaining four teams will then be joined by six regional qualifiers in the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier 2017, details of which will be released in due course.

With 19 points, the English women are currently lying third in the table, just one point behind second-placed West Indies, against whom they are scheduled to feature in the sixth round of ICC Women's Championship games, starting from October 8th, before travelling to Sri Lanka.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka are languishing at the bottom, having recorded only two victories in their first five rounds of the championship.

Looking forward to the tour, Mark Robinson, England Women's head coach, said, "The tour to Sri Lanka will mark the end of the busiest ever year for the England women's team and the conclusion of the ICC Women's Championship.

"It will be another good test to mark how we are progressing as a squad, as we bid to overcome a passionate home team in the heat and humidity of Sri Lanka. As always, it will be a challenge that we will relish, as we keep building for the future and look ahead to the ICC Women's World Cup on home soil next year."

As part of the build-up for the Sri Lankan tour, the English women will take part in a six-day training camp in Abu Dhabi, starting from November 1.