Former Australian cricketer Meg Lanning said that the ICC should either focus on more Women’s Tests or abolish the format once and for all.
While the women’s teams play ODIs and T20Is on a regular basis, there haven’t been a lot of Test matches. In the last decade, only 12 Women’s Tests have taken place.
England (10), Australia (8), India (6) and South Africa (2) are the four teams that have played in the format since the start of 2014.
‘Difficult to prepare’
The 31-year-old Lanning said that due to lack of Test matches, players go into the games without much preparation.
“It’s really difficult to prepare for a Test match. In my career, we were playing once every two years. It takes us two days to work out how to play it again, and then the Test is over,” Lanning was quoted as saying on AAP.
“If you really want the games to be a good contest and more nations to play and players to understand the game a little bit more, I think we probably need to play more. Or you go the other way, and you don’t play any at all, and you focus on the short-format stuff,” she stated.
Lanning put forth her opinions after skipper Alyssa Healy said that the ICC should organise 3-match series rather than one-off Tests.
Earlier, Nick Hockley, the Cricket Australia CEO, asked for more Women’s Tests. A multi-match Test series was last played when England toured India for 2 matches back in 2006.
Recently, India and South Africa showed their keenness to play more Women’s Tests. The Proteas Women are scheduled to play a Test against Australia later this month at the WACA in Perth.
“That’s great if that means there can be more Tests in the calendar, I think that’ll happen over time. But that’s where I sit on it. It’s either more or you sort of don’t go there at all because I think once every so often is pretty difficult as a player,” Lanning added.
Lanning is currently playing in the Women’s National Cricket League, where she is playing for the Victoria Women.
