England are blooding new players then, Sky show a nicely done package with Ian Ward and Head Coach Charlotte Edwards as she talks about how she has been drilling this team and making sure they are primed to give everything in something of a defining summer. Edwards describes teenage off spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman as “a dream” to work with.

Raf was critical of the status quo in this piece a few weeks back. It would have been nice to see another teenage sensation, this time with the bat in hand - Davina Perrin get an opportunity.

Teams:

England hand ODI dayboos to Jodi Grewcock, Tilly Corteen-Coleman and Dani Gibson.

England: Emma Lamb, Jodi Grewcock, Heather Knight, Maia Bouchier, Freya Kemp, Amy Jones (wk), Dani Gibson, Charlie Dean, Lauren Filer, Lauren Bell, Tilly Corteen-Coleman

New Zealand: Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr (capt), Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Izzy Gaze (wk), Izzy Sharp, Jess Kerr, Nensi Patel, Rose Mair, Bree Illing

The sun is shining in Durham but it still looks like top coat temperature. Charlie Dean has no hesitation in sticking the opposition in. She says there are three debutants in the side today and mentions “turning the page” with this ODI side. Kerr admits that she would have bowled first too, there should be some life in the wicket early on.

Confirmed sides in two tics.

Hello and welcome to the start of the English international summer. England’s women take on New Zealand in a three match ODI series before a trio of T20s against Amelia Kerr’s impressive White Ferns sets them up for a home T20 World Cup on home soil.

Charlie Dean steps up to take the Captain’s arm band with Nat Sciver-Brunt hoping to recover from a calf tear in time to lead the side in the World Cup starting on June 12th.

“I think it’s 194 days maybe since our last international game.” Dean told the press in her media duties ahead of this series. “We’ve had a really productive winter. We’ve not had international series, which hasn’t been fantastic, but we’ve really made the most of the prep that we have had.”

It is a huge summer for English and women’s cricket, as Raf Nicholson excellently put it in these pages:

“Historic occasions are like buses: you spend ages twiddling your thumbs and then two come along at once. England have waited nine years for another home World Cup, wallowing all the while in memories of their win in 2017, and almost a century for a maiden women’s Test at Lord’s. Now both are being thrust upon them over the space of a single month, from 12 June to 13 July, in a true summer bonanza for women’s cricket.

First, though, a T20 World Cup dress rehearsal: three one-day internationals against New Zealand, followed by three Twenty20s against the same opposition, and another three against India. The 50-over series, which begins on Sunday in Durham, feels a little as if it has been plonked thoughtlessly into the calendar. The wicketkeeper Kira Chathli and all-rounder Jodi Grewcock could make their England debuts – after all, the head coach, Charlotte Edwards, promised us she would “look to the future” after England’s drubbing in last year’s 50-over World Cup semi-final. But right now, no one in the England management has much bandwidth to plan for anything other than the possibility of reaching a home final at Lord’s on 5 July.”

Play begins in Durham at 11am and we’ll have news from the toss and the teams very shortly. Join us for all the OBO action and please do get in touch throughout the day.