Sophia Dunkley becomes first black woman to play Test cricket for England after debut in India clash

Malik Ouzia and Matt Majendie
·1 min read
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Sophia Dunkley has become the first black woman to play Test cricket for England after being named in the side for the one-off match against India at Bristol.

The Surrey all-rounder was presented with her cap ahead of the start of the first day’s play at the County Ground on Wednesday.

The Test is England’s first since the 2019 Ashes, while India’s women have not played the longest format of the game since 2014.

Heather Knight, captaining England for the 100th time, won the toss and elected to bat.

“Dunks comes in for her first game,” she said at the toss. “She massively deserves this chance, she’s been outstanding in domestic cricket.”

Meanwhile, the ECB has apologised to the England side after giving them a used wicket for the match.

Knight described the oversight as “unfortunate”, with a T20 game having already been played on the pitch, between Gloucestershire and Sussex on Friday night.

And the ECB said: “We know that England Women deserve a fresh wicket and we are sorry that we are unable to provide that in this instance.

“With the Test only being added to the calendar in mid-April, coupled with the lack of available first-class grounds, we knew a fresh TV pitch was going to be a challenge. We accept that this issue shouldn’t have arisen and we will make sure it doesn’t happen in the future.”

Knight had previously said of the lack of fresh pitch: “It is not ideal and we would much rather be on a fresh one.”

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