India to play warmups against England, NZ ahead of Women's World Cup

Dubai, Jul 15 (PTI) India will play warmup matches against England and New Zealand in Bengaluru, ahead of the Women's ODI World Cup being jointly organised by India and Sri Lanka in September-October this year.

Pakistan will play both their warmup games as well as its World Cup matches in Sri Lanka, as agreed mutually by the BCCI and Pakistan Cricket Board.

India will take on England in the first warmup game on September 25 at BCCI's Centre of Excellence ground and play New Zealand at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on September 27, three days before the start of the tournament at the same venue on September 30.

Pakistan will play their warmup games in Colombo on September 25 and 28 at the Colombo Cricket Club against Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka 'A' teams respectively.

"In all, nine day-night matches will be played from 25-28 September at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground (both Bengaluru), R Premadasa Stadium and Colombo Cricket Club (both Colombo)," ICC said in a release on Tuesday.

Eight teams are competing in the round-robin warmups with matches across four venues in Bengaluru and Colombo.

Defending champions Australia, the only team not playing on the opening day of the warmups, start with a match against arch-foes England at the BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground on September 27.

The 50-over World Cup, which is returning to the sub-continent after 12 years, will be played from September 30 to November 2 at five venues -- M Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru), ACA Stadium (Guwahati), Holkar Stadium (Indore), ACA-VDCA Stadium (Visakhapatnam) and R Premdasa Stadium (Colombo).

Warmup match schedule: September 25: Bengaluru - India vs England at BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground; South Africa vs New Zealand at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Colombo - Sri Lanka vs Pakistan at Colombo Cricket Club; Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka 'A' at R Premadasa Stadium.

September 27: Bengaluru - Australia vs England at BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground; India vs New Zealand at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Colombo - Sri Lanka versus Bangladesh at Colombo Cricket Club.

Sept 28: Bengaluru - South Africa vs India 'A' at BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground. Colombo - Pakistan vs Sri Lanka 'A' at Colombo Cricket Club. PTI AM AM SSC SSC