Recently, the world of women’s cricket and the fans of the women’s game were taken by shock when the ICC Chief Greg Barclay hinted that there will be a reduction in women’s Test cricket going into the future.
While it is often said that Test cricket is arguably the best form of cricket, unfortunately, the women cricketers will not be able to play much of it as it can be understood from Barclay’s comments.
Barclay said, “Women’s Tests will not be part of the landscape moving forward to any real extent. If you look at the way cricket is going there is no doubt that white ball is the way of the future – that is the game that is sought after by the fans, where the broadcasters are putting their resources and what is driving the money.”
He also emphasized the fact that in order to have more Test cricket for women, the domestic structure in their respective countries needs to be strong. At present, not many countries have multi-day cricket tournaments for domestic women cricketers.
The first Women’s Test was played in 1934 and since then only 143 Tests have been played. The major Test-playing nations in women’s cricket have been Australia, England, and India. Since 2015, only five Tests have been played. With the focus shifting more and more towards the shortest format, it is expected that there will not be any increase in the scheduling of Test matches for women.
Australia’s Jess Jonassen is upset with ICC chief’s comments on women’s Test Cricket 👇#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/jjvRXMpVLM
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) June 5, 2022
Among all the women’s cricket teams that play ICC events, Australia and England are the two teams that play a compulsory Test match during the Ashes. While there is enough evidence of the importance of Ashes in the men’s game, women’s Ashes is not too far behind. In the recent past when women’s Test cricket attracted a lot of attention, thanks to exciting contests offered by Australia, England, and India, there were talks of having five-day Tests instead of four-day Test matches for women. However, this change seems to be a distant dream after taking cognizance of Barclay’s comments.
Barclay’s words exuded disappointment for the women cricketers and the fans of the women’s game. In view of this, Australia’s star spinner Jess Jonassen took to Twitter to express her displeasure over the comments made by Barclay. Jonassen tweeted, “Well it won’t without genuine support from the top… Disappointing to see these comments, the hunger and drive is there from multiple countries regardless of some significant hurdles that need to be overcome by some. It should never be solely about money.”
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I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.