ECB dumps South Africa Test

England women will not play their scheduled Test against South Africa this year after the ECB replaced the four-day fixture at Shenley in August with two ODIs at the same ground. The change came about because the ultimate tournament, the World Cup, is looming.

"The ECB and Cricket South Africa have come to the decision to replace the proposed one-off Test match with two additional ODI matches," an ECB spokesperson confirmed to Cricinfo. "This extends the ODI series to five matches and will provide both teams with a more relevant build-up to the ICC women's World Cup in March 2009."

South Africa have only just qualified for the World Cup, to be held in New South Wales, after narrowly missing out on automatic qualification last time around when hosts of the 2005 event. So they will welcome the extra chance to have two ODIs.

This means England have not had a home Test for the last two years, since losing to India for the first time at home. India will be their second visitors this summer, and with the ECB and the BCCI arranging only ODIs ahead of the World Cup, England have no chance to avenge that defeat.