The South African women’s team will tour India for an all-format series, beginning with a three-match ODI series, before moving to the one-off Test, and ending with the three T20Is.
The ODIs, as well as a one-day warm-up game for the visiting side against a Board President’s XI side, will be played in Bengaluru, while the rest of the games will take place in Chennai. To ensure continuity in formats ahead of the T20 World Cup that is set to be held in Bangladesh in September-October, the T20Is will be played at the end of the series.
After the warm-up game on June 13, the ODIs will be played on June 16, 19 and 23; the Test will run from June 28 to July 1; the T20Is will be played on July 5, 7 and 9.
While the six white ball games, along with a tour of New Zealand, were part of the ICC women’s FTP (Future Tour Programme) set to be played between July and September last year, it was postponed due to the men’s 2023 ODI World Cup in India. Meanwhile, the solitary Test wasn’t originally part of the FTP but was added as part of Cricket South Africa (CSA) and BCCI’s recent push to promote women’s red-ball cricket.
For India, this will be the third Test in seven months, having played against England and Australia in December, signifying the BCCI’s commitment of tackling discrimination when the world’s richest cricket body announced equal match fees for centrally contracted male and female cricketers.
South Africa, meanwhile, last played a four-day game against Australia in February when they lost by an innings and 284 runs. In June 2022, the Proteas women broke their eight-year hiatus from the longest format by playing a four-day match in England.