Posted by Good news, everyone! Some Women’s Tests are probably happening!
Women’s Test matches are so rare, the possibility another one might actually happen tends to be headline news.
The BBC have gone with “England to play first West Indies Test since 1979” which does a pretty good job of summing things up. It’ll be in 2027 and it’ll also be the first Test England have played over there.
The BBC article also reveals that England have further Test matches lined up against India, Australia and South Africa before the end of 2029. Busy times!
The women’s Test schedule is in fact so easy-paced that we’re happy to type it out in full. In fact we’ll do it nation by nation, even though that means highlighting each match twice.
Australia (eight Tests)
- January 2025: Home v England
- February 2026: Home v India
- March 2026: Away v West Indies
- March 2027: Away v South Africa
- July 2027: Away v England
- December 2027: Away v India
- February 2028: Home v South Africa
- February 2029: Home v England
England (eight Tests)
- December 2024: Away v South Africa
- January 2025: Away v Australia
- July 2026: Home v India
- April 2027: Away v West Indies
- July 2027: Home v Australia
- June 2028: Home v South Africa
- December 2028: Away v India
- Feburary 2029: Away v Australia
India (five Tests)
- February 2026: Away v Australia
- July 2026: Away v England
- December 2026: Away v South Africa
- December 2027: Home v Australia
- December 2028: Home v England
South Africa (six Tests)
- December 2024: Home v England
- December 2026: Home v India
- March 2027: Home v Australia
- February 2028: Away v Australia
- June 2028: Away v England
- December 2028: Home v West Indies
West Indies (three Tests)
- March 2026: Home v Australia
- April 2027: Home v England
- December 2028: Away v South Africa
These tests are probably happening?
We don’t know who wrote the ICC press release, but it is not characterised by precision of language. “Members have also pencilled in more Test matches this time,” it says at one point – which makes all of these matches sound highly provisional.
We imagine they are, but then elsewhere it says of the various planned multi-format series that, “Australia will play the maximum such series.”
The maximum? They mean the greatest number. So at that point we realised that pretty much any word in the release could in fact mean something different and therefore the whole document was basically meaningless.
Conclusion
Some women’s Test matches will be played and probably a handful more than during the last ‘cycle’.
- Keep cricket in your life through the winter by getting our email
- Keep King Cricket going by chipping into the King Cricket crowdfunder for a month or two
No test matches for Ireland 🙁
Fun fact: Ireland’s women played a Test before their men’s team did, way back in 2000 against Pakistan. Isobel Joyce was player of the match with 6/21. Wish she commentated more on England matches, she’s great on the (sadly sparse) Irish coverage.
Ireland’s men also played their first Test in Dublin against Pakistan, in 2018, but they lost. In fact they lost their first seven matches, and won at their eighth attempt only in March this year, against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi.
The only problem with Ireland playing a second Women’s Test is it would put their 100% winning record in jeopardy.
Here’s the scorecard for Ireland’s “real” Test debut. https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/pakistan-women-tour-of-ireland-2000-62265/ireland-women-vs-pakistan-women-only-test-67510/full-scorecard
A curious detail: this was an innings victory, so only lasted 3 innings. Joyce won player of the match despite not bowling in Pakistan’s first innings (though she did take a catch) and not batting in Ireland’s only innings. It’s not so rare to be player of the match having only batted or bowled in one innings, but usually it’s a batter with a big score in an innings win. I suspect some spinners have also won for second innings bowling only. Joyce was an all-rounder and left-arm seamer though, so all the more unusual.
For fans of unusual statistics: the Netherlands have also played Test match cricket, in fact their debut was as recent as 2007. But their sole outing to date, against South Africa, was rather less successful than Ireland so it’s less surprising they aren’t back for more just yet. https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/south-africa-women-tour-of-netherlands-2007-298726/netherlands-women-vs-south-africa-women-only-test-298730/full-scorecard
I’d love to see Thailand play a Test. I suspect it’s the form of the game they’d be best at – they’re excellent at nurdling singles and running between the wickets, they have a formidable spin attack for a deteriorating wicket, but their lack of power hitters makes it hard for them to post competitive run-rates in limited overs matches against full-member opposition.
England haven’t won a home test match since 2005. They haven’t won a test match at all since 2014.
Maybe they should play some first class matches to get a bit of practice in the format?