India women pull out of tri-series in England due to coronavirus

England women will no longer be hosting India later this summer, after the visitors pulled out of a proposed tri-series due to coronavirus.

The T20 World Cup runners-up had initially been scheduled to tour in June, but lockdown restrictions saw the matches postponed. The England and Wales Cricket Board had hoped that it could instead arrange for India to take part in a tri-series along with South Africa later this summer, but the country's Covid-19 crisis has meant they will be unable to commit. India has reported 1.1 million cases of the infection, and scheduled flights to the UK are currently suspended.

England's squad returned to training last month, following three months out of action after their World Cup semi-final exit. Telegraph Sport understands that the ECB is pushing to potentially extend England's run of fixtures against South Africa, originally scheduled as two T20s and four one-day internationals, in order to get as much play as possible. Dates for the series have not been confirmed but are expected to be announced for late August at the earliest.

Coronavirus has ravaged what was expected to be an exciting summer for women's cricket this year. The Hundred competition, which would have seen women's domestic cricket aired on terrestrial television and players receive salaries, was a major casualty to the crisis after it was cancelled back in March.

However, earlier this month the ECB reiterated its commitment to the women's domestic game and 25 players were awarded retainers in June, in a step towards offering professional status to those outside the England squad. Full-time contracts, which will be a step up from the retainers, are expected to be allocated later this year.

Also, details about the new elite domestic competition for later this summer - comprising the new regional teams made up from county groupings - are likely to be announced this month.