(Sports Correspondent: Imran Sohail)
The International Cricket Council today announced the warm-up match schedule for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 which will see the eight competing teams prepare for the round-robin tournament with matches across four venues in Bengaluru and Colombo.
In all, nine day-night matches will be played from 25-28 September at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Centre of Excellence 1 ground (both Bengaluru), R. Premadasa Stadium and Colombo Cricket Club (both Colombo).
The opening day of the warm-ups will see hosts India and England, finalists of the 2017 edition, play at the BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground while South Africa and New Zealand will play at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
On the same day, sub-continental rivals Sri Lanka and Pakistan will play at the Colombo Cricket Club and Bangladesh will take on a Sri Lanka ‘A’ side at the R. Premadasa Stadium.
Defending champions Australia, the only team not playing on the opening day of the warm-ups, start with a match against arch-rivals England at the BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground on 27 September, when two more matches will be played. The last set of warm-ups will be played on 28 September.
The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, which returns to the sub-continent after 12 years, will be played from 30 September to 2 November at five venues.
Warm-up venues M. Chinnaswamy Stadium and the R. Premdasa Stadium will also host matches of the main tournament, with the ACA Stadium in Guwahati, the Holkar Stadium in Indore and the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam the other venues.
Warm-up schedule (all matches start at 3 p.m. Indian Standard Time):
25 Sept
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 Colombo R. Premadasa Stadium
27 Sept
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
28 Sept
Bengaluru
South Africa vs India ‘A’ at BCCI Centre of Excellence 1 ground
Colombo
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka ‘A’ at Colombo Cricket Club
