Women's World Cup: Five venues named for 2017 tournament

Australia are the defending champions

Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Lord's have been named as venues for the ICC Women's World Cup in 2017.

It will be the first time that the tournament has been held in England since 1993, when the home side beat New Zealand in the final at Lord's.

The tournament, which starts on 26 June next year, consists of 31 matches, with Lord's hosting the final on 23 July.

It will feature eight teams and will be played in a round-robin format.

Steve Elworthy, the ECB's director of events, said the tournament will help "drive interest and participation in women's cricket at every level".

He added: "It's critical we use this event to reach out to young children in particular, so we've moved the tournament start date to earlier in the summer, a decision which will help our host venues encourage attendance by engaging with schools in the build-up to the event."