England will play defending champions and hosts West Indies in Group A at the 10-team ICC Women’s World Twenty20. One-day World Cup winners England will also play Sri Lanka, South Africa and a qualifier in the November tournament. Group B features Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and another qualifier - from an eight-team event in July. “It’s an amazing chance to become double world champions but we have a lot of hard work to do first,” said England captain Heather Knight. It will be the first time that a Women’s World T20 will be held as a stand-alone tournament without a men’s competition being played in parallel - while the Decision Review System will be used for the first time in a World T20 event, with all 23 games broadcast live. England beat India by nine runs last year to win the 50-over World Cup at Lord’s in dramatic style. Their first match at the World T20 tournament, which runs from 9-24 November, will be against Sri Lanka on Saturday, 10 November. They will then play the qualifier, South Africa and West Indies on 12, 16 and 18 November respectively. “We showed in India in our tri-series that we’re capable of playing very good T20 cricket but we need to keep improving as a side and add more consistency to our game,” added Knight. Bangladesh and Ireland, who played in the 2016 Women’s World Twenty20, are among the eight teams vying for two qualifier places. The tournament is being hosted by the Netherlands from 7-14 July and also features Scotland, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Thailand and United Arab Emirates. BBC
