New Zealand Women’s ODI against England Women in Leicester likely to take place despite security threats

The third ODI between New Zealand Women and England Women on Tuesday, September 21, at the Grace Road in Leicester is most likely to go ahead as per schedule after reports of the visitors facing security threats surfaced. As per reports, a member of the New Zealand team management was told that a bomb would be planted at the team hotel.

Earlier, it was also learned that they got the warning of a bomb to be placed on their plane on their return back home. Hence, in order to avoid a mishap, New Zealand announced a lockdown on Monday, September 20 after which the police and counter-terrorism agencies also got involved. After investigations, the NZC has deemed the threats to be “not credible”.

New Zealand didn’t train at Grace Road

The White Ferns, led by Sophie Devine, didn’t train at the Grace Road either and the cancellation of the match was well and truly on the cards. However, an NZC spokesperson stated that the training session wasn’t scheduled itself as the players were travelling. In the meantime, a few players are reported to be reluctant to play the game.

“As has been reported, the ECB have received a threatening email relating to NZC. Although this did not specifically reference the White Ferns it was treated seriously, investigated, and deemed not credible,” an NZC spokesperson said.

“The White Ferns have now arrived in Leicester and, as a precaution, security around them has been boosted. Reports their training has been cancelled are false. They were not scheduled to train today as it was a travelling day. NZC will not be commenting further on the matter,” the spokesperson added.

Recently, the New Zealand men’s team abandoned their tour of Pakistan after ‘security threats’. Prior to the first ODI on September 17, New Zealand Cricket released a statement, talking about their decision to pull out from the bilateral ODI and T20I series.

As far as the women’s matches are concerned, England are leading the five-match series 2-0. In the first game, the Heather Knight-led team won by 30 runs after which they emerged victorious by 13 runs- DLS Method. After the Leicester ODI, the fourth and final ODI will take place at Derby and Canterbury respectively.