Australia-England rivalry not enough to promote Women's Test cricket.
The cricket Boards at Australia and England have been trying every possible way to promote Women's Test Cricket over the years, but yet to go gain such popularity that limited-overs cricket has across the globe, and Australia Women’s captain Meg Lanning has urged India to extend their helping hands.
Lanning believes that Women’s Test cricket needs to spread beyond Australia-England rivalry and for which, India should come forward and play its big role in promoting the longest format of the game.
Since the first women's Test match between England and Australia in 1934–35, India has played only 36 Tests so far -won 5 of them, lost 5 and drew 25 from 1976 to 2014.
India has not featured in the longest format of the game since 2014 and Lanning called for their involvement to promote the format, as they have got a big influence in cricket.
Meanwhile, Australia, England, South Africa, and India are the only cricket playing nations who have played women’s Test matches in the last decade.
Lanning told SEN Radio, “We’d love to play more Test matches. Unfortunately, it’s only Australia and England that are interested at the moment, and we only play each other every couple of years. That probably is a bit of a problem.”
The 27-year-old continued, “Hopefully down the track more countries are interested. I think India would be great at playing Test matches. I think they’d probably be the big fish to get involved because they’ve got such a big influence in cricket.”
She signed off by saying, “If that was the case, I think that would definitely help that side of the game grow. But unfortunately, one game every two years, it’s difficult to prepare for and play well. But we enjoy playing them so hopefully, there’s a few more down the track.”
Noteworthy, Australia will tour England later this year for a one-off Test in the multi-format women’s Ashes series, comprising with three ODIs and three T20Is as part of a points-based seven-match series.
(With SEN Radio Inputs)