AUTHOR(S): Sachin Prakash and Dr. Sandeep Bhalla

ABSTRACT:
Women's Test cricket is the longest format of women's cricket and is the gender equivalent to men's Test cricket. Matches comprise four-innings and are held over a maximum of four days between two of the leading cricketing nations. The rules governing the format differ little from those for the men's game, with differences generally being technicalities surrounding umpiring and pitch size. Far fewer women's Test matches are played each year than women's One Day Internationals, with the international calendar revolving around the shorter format of the game. The first women's Test match was played by England women and Australia women in December 1934, a three-day contest held in Brisbane which England won by nine wickets. It only became officially known as the Women Ashes in the 1998 series when an autographed bat was burned before the first Test at Lord's. The lack of money and resources in the women’s game had always been a barrier, so in the 1990s a closer relationship was sought with the men’s. In 1992, New Zealand became the first Test-playing nation to merge its men’s and women’s cricketing set-ups – England followed in 1998. In 2005 the International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) agreed to hand over control of the global women’s game to the male-run International Cricket Council (ICC), and all remaining women’s national associations were absorbed by their male counterparts.

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