Australia captain Meg Lanning said that women’s Test matches need to spread beyond the Australia-England rivalry, adding that India has to play a big role in order to promote the format.

Australia will tour England later this year to play a one-off Test in the multi-format women’s Ashes series that includes three ODIs and three T20Is as part of a points-based seven-match series.

The lone Ashes Test has been the only women’s Test since in the last three years. Besides Australia and England, India and South Africa are the only two nations to have played women’s Test matches in the last decade.

Advertisement

“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,” Lanning was quoted as saying by SEN Radio.

“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.

“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,” she added.

Advertisement

The 27-year-old Lanning made her debut for Australia in 2010 but has played only three Tests as compared to 85 T20Is and 72 ODIs. She missed the Ashes series last year after undergoing surgery. The match ended in a draw after Ellyse Perry made an unbeaten 213, the third-highest score in women’s Test history and only the seventh double century.

India last played a Test match back in 2014, taking on South Africa at home and winning a series in England, thanks to the efforts of a young Smriti Mandhana.

With PTI inputs