Athapaththu was named captain of released by SLC on Monday and the squad is scheduled to leave for New Zealand on February 22 for three ODIs and as many T20Is.
Allrounder is the only New Zealand player in the WPL this season and she, unlike Athapaththu, is going to miss the bilateral series next month to play the entire WPL, including the knockouts if MI qualify for those again. If MI make it to the final, scheduled for March 15, Kerr will also miss the first two T20is slotted for March 14 and 16 in Christchurch. Last year too, Kerr had skipped the home bilateral T20Is against England to be available for the entire duration of the WPL.
In 2024, the calendar clash between the final leg of WPL and the T20I series in New Zealand had become a much bigger issue when England captain Heather Knight (RCB) and Lauren Bell (UPW) had opted out of WPL completely to represent their national team. Coincidentally, Athapaththu had replaced Bell for UPW then.
Since then, boards like the ECB have assured players they won’t schedule international games during the WPL. The tournament will shift from its current February-March window to January-February starting in 2026, according to the new women’s Future Tours Programme (FTP). The FTP, which runs until 2029, also allocates separate windows for other T20 leagues, with the Hundred in August and the WBBL in November.
Leave a Reply