England aim to match Lionesses and Red Roses as historic summer kicks off

Historic occasions are like buses: you spend ages twiddling your thumbs and then two come along at once. England have waited nine years for another home World Cup, wallowing all the while in memories of their win in 2017, and almost a century for a maiden women’s Test at Lord’s. Now both are being thrust upon them over the space of a single month, from 12 June to 13 July, in a true summer bonanza for women’s cricket.

First, though, a T20 World Cup dress rehearsal: three one-day internationals against New Zealand, followed by three Twenty20s against the same opposition, and another three against India. The 50-over series, which begins on Sunday in Durham, feels a little as if it has been plonked thoughtlessly into the calendar. The wicketkeeper Kira Chathli and all-rounder Jodi Grewcock could make their England debuts – after all, the head coach, Charlotte Edwards, promised us she would “look to the future” after England’s drubbing in last year’s 50-over World Cup semi-final. But right now, no one in the England management has much bandwidth to plan for anything other than the possibility of reaching a home final at Lord’s on 5 July.

All eyes are really on the first of the T20s against New Zealand, on 20 May at Derby, which will tell us a lot about where Edwards’s head is at when it comes to her World Cup starting XI. Expect to see a team here that is full of familiar faces: the only potential debutant in the World Cup squad is the 18-year-old left-arm spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman, and she is locked in a fight with her fellow left-armers Sophie Ecclestone and Linsey Smith for a spot.

The big ODI news is that the vice-captain, Charlie Dean, will be at the helm, after Nat Sciver-Brunt picked up a calf tear during a rare outing for the Blaze, her domestic team, last month. The fact that Dean was originally scheduled to miss the ODI series to “manage her workload” but must now double it may raise eyebrows. Nevertheless, this is a huge moment for Dean, who has never captained a professional 50-over game before and now has the chance to prove to Edwards that she really is the England captain in waiting across all formats.

Sciver-Brunt’s injury is being described by the England and Wales Cricket Board as minor, with her availability for the T20s to be determined “in due course”. For the sake of their World Cup chances, they had better hope it doesn’t spiral into anything major. Even the prospect of England’s best batter (and their captain) missing a home World Cup will be enough to keep Edwards awake at night. And there are plenty of other injury scenarios to fret over.