Tom Harrison does not see value in Women’s Tests outside Ashes

Tom Harrison, England and Wales Cricket Board’s chief executive officer, has said that Test matches for Women does not answer the commercial demands. In effect he meant that there is little scope for women cricketers to play Tests around the world.



He believed that Women’s Ashes between England and Australia has it’s unique appeal, but beyond that there is little scope for other countries to engage in the longer format.



“I think in the women’s game the Test match spectacle has got a place in Ashes cricket, for example. I think beyond that, what we have to recognise is that the women’s game at some point needs to answer a commercial question, and it’s starting to do that,” Harrison told Sky TV. “One of the things we need to be careful of is not just mirroring what happens in the men’s game on to the women’s game.”



This was his response to the question Ian Ward posed: “Is there any value going forward in women playing Test match cricket?”



Australia and England engage in multi-format Ashes every two seasons, which includes Twenty20 Internationals, One-Day Internationals and one-off Test. The last time they played was in 2017 in Australia. The highlight of that day-night Test in Sydney was Ellyse Perry’s unbeaten 213, which was incidentally only the seventh double-century in the format.



A lot of players have voiced their wish to play Test matches, but there has been no intent shown by administrators from different countries. BCCI, for example, was keen on playing a Test match every series, but teams were reluctant to engage. The last Test match outside of Australia and England was between India and South Africa in Mysore in November 2014. India won that game by an innings and 34 runs, with Harmanpreet Kaur taking nine wickets and MD Thirushkamini (192) and Punam Raut (130) putting on a second-wicket stand of 275 runs.



In fact in 2014 India played their first Test after eight years. Prior to beating South Africa, India had won against England in Wormsley. Before that their last Test was also against England in 2006. After the Wormsely victory, Mithali Raj had told Wisden India that she had never expected to play Test cricket again.



In the book ‘The Fire Burns Blue – A History of Women’s Cricket in India’ Jhulan Goswami, who played a big part in India winning the Test series against England in 2006, elaborated on how much she missed the format.



England have played the maximum Tests – 94, followed by Australia (73), New Zealand (45), India (36), South Africa, Windies (12 each) and Pakistan (3). Ireland, Sri Lanka and Netherlands have played one Test each.



The first Test match was held way back in December 1934 when England beat Australia by nine wickets in Brisbane.