England women warm up for South Africa series with intra-squad match

The ECB hopes to announce fixtures for South Africa Women's revised tour of England in the coming weeks, pending approval from both governments.

England were initially due to play four ODIs and two T20Is against South Africa in September, but with India pulling out of their scheduled tour due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country, an additional ODI will be staged. ESPNcricinfo understands that the series will start at the end of August, with all the games staged at Derby.

England's enlarged training squad went into the bio-secure bubble at Derby earlier this week, and played the first of three 50-over warm-up games on Thursday. There will also be one T20 warm-up fixture, with the players then able to leave the site for around two weeks before re-entering soon before the series gets underway.

In the first warm-up match, Team Heyhoe Flint beat Team Britten by five wickets, recovering from 8 for 3 to chase down a revised target of 244 in 45 overs thanks to an unbroken partnership of 104 between Katherine Brunt and Sarah Glenn.

Danni Wyatt's 88 had underpinned Team Britten's total of 250 all out in 49.1 overs, with Alice Davidson-Richards' 48 providing support. Glenn was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 41 with her legbreaks, while Brunt took 2 for 16 from her seven overs.

Openers Bryony Smith and Lauren Winfield were both run out before Kate Cross had Amy Jones caught and bowled, but Heather Knight and Georgia Elwiss put on 68 to rebuild the innings. Brunt added 64 with Elwiss, before taking the lead in partnership with Glenn, slashing Nat Sciver over cover to seal the win with 22 balls remaining.

Glenn was carded to come in at No. 11 during England's T20 World Cup campaign, but showed her ability with the bat with 52 off 53 balls, while Brunt finished unbeaten on 68 from 61. Anya Shrubsole played no part as she continued her recovery from surgery in March, but umpired from both ends during the first innings.