Wolvaardt’s Proteas to host England for historic Test next season

The Proteas women’s side will play a first Test match on South African soil in 22 years when Laura Wolvaardt’s side take on England in December. 

The four-day match, which will be hosted in Bloemfontein from December 15, is only the ninth women’s Test to be played in South Africa. The Proteas have played two Tests in the last three years — one in England and the other in Australia earlier this year, with the introduction of multi-format tours bringing a slight increase in the number of red ball matches in women’s cricket. 

South Africa’s last home Test was against India in Paarl in 2002, a match India comfortably won by 10 wickets.

England will be in the country for three weeks, playing three T20 Internationals and the same number of ODIs, with the tour concluding with the Test match. 

The last Test between the teams ended in a rain-interrupted draw in Somerset in 2022, when Marizanne Kapp scored 150. 

Meanwhile the men’s team will play four Tests next summer, two against Sri Lanka and a pair against Pakistan, with the latter encompassing the Boxing Day and New Year’s matches in Centurion and Cape Town respectively. 

Sri Lanka will play at the same two venues, Kingsmead and St George’s Park, where they achieved their historic series win in 2019, which made them the first team from the Asian subcontinent to win a Test series in South Africa. 

In addition to the Test matches, Pakistan will also face the Proteas in three T20 Internationals and three ODIs, with the third of the matches being the “Pink ODI” at the Wanderers on December 22. 

The ODIs will be the Proteas’ last before the ICC Champions Trophy which will be hosted in Pakistan from mid-February. With the second Test scheduled to finish on January 7, there will be sufficient time for players to prepare for the SA20 which will begin a few days later. 

Unlike last summer, there is no schedule clash involving the lucrative T20 franchise tournament and the Proteas. 

However, the New Year’s Test will be followed by an 18-month gap before South Africa is scheduled to host a Test again. The Proteas will tour Pakistan and India in the second half of 2025, but the only home internationals scheduled for the 2025/26 season will be a set of T20s against the West Indies, which will be followed by the fourth edition of the SA20, and then another T20 World Cup that will be hosted by India and Sri Lanka. 

South Africa’s next home Tests after the 2024/25 summer will be against Australia in September 2026.