England women's hopes of salvaging an international season in 2020 have been boosted by the confirmation that 24 players will return to training later this month across six venues.
The ECB were forced to postpone the series against India, initially scheduled to start at the end of June, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and have since been in talks with the BCCI and CSA about turning the South Africa tour in September into a tri-series.
And with that objective in mind, the players are due to resume practice on June 22, initially on an individual basis and later in small groups.
The training sessions will take place at Loughborough, Headingley, The Oval, Bristol, Hove and Chester Boughton Hall CC, all under the same medical guidelines and bio-secure conditions as have been in place for England Men.
Jonathan Finch, the ECB's director of women's cricket, said: "We remain hopeful of playing cricket this summer and it's exciting for this group of players to be able to return to training.
"We've had great support from the First-Class Counties with the use of their venues, and we're grateful to them for that, and hopefully this is one step closer towards England Women returning to the field this summer."
Squads for specific formats will be named in due course, subject to confirmation of the proposed series. But the 24 names include both Lauren Winfield and Amy Jones, both of whom recently arrived back in the UK after being stranded in Australia after the Covid-19 outbreak.
"We will get some international cricket, all being well," Tom Harrison, the ECB's chief executive, told the BBC's Tuffers and Vaughan Show last week. "We're talking to the BCCI and to Cricket South Africa about bringing their women's teams over to play a tri-series, so we have something really to celebrate with the women's game in September."
England Return to Training squad Tammy Beaumont (Kent/London Spirit), Lauren Bell (Berkshire/Southern Brave), Katherine Brunt (Yorkshire/Trent Rockets), Kate Cross (Lancashire/Manchester Originals), Alice Davidson-Richards (Kent/Northern Superchargers), Freya Davies (Sussex/London Spirit), Sophia Dunkley (Surrey/Southern Brave), Sophie Ecclestone (Lancashire/Manchester Originals), Georgia Elwiss (Sussex/Birmingham Phoenix), Katie George (Hampshire/Welsh Fire), Sarah Glenn (Worcestershire/Trent Rockets), Kirstie Gordon (Kent/Birmingham Phoenix), Amy Jones (Warwickshire/Birmingham Phoenix), Heather Knight (Berkshire/London Spirit), Emma Lamb (Lancashire/Manchester Originals), Nat Sciver (Surrey/Trent Rockets), Anya Shrubsole (Berkshire/Southern Brave), Bryony Smith (Surrey/Welsh Fire), Linsey Smith (Sussex/Northern Superchargers), Mady Villiers (Essex/Trent Rockets), Fran Wilson (Kent/Oval Invincibles), Lauren Winfield (Yorkshire/Northern Superchargers), Issy Wong (Warwickshire/Birmingham Phoenix), Danni Wyatt (Sussex/Southern Brave)