Australia will host England in a four-day pink-ball women’s Ashes Test on the MCG in January to mark the 90-year anniversary of the primary women’s Test collection however the debate continues as to whether or not four-day or five-day cricket stays the most effective format for the ladies to play.
Cricket Australia introduced its schedule for the 2024-25 season on Tuesday with the multiformat women’s Ashes collection to be held in January to cap off a house summer season that features a T20I collection towards New Zealand earlier than the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September, and a three-match ODI collection towards India in December which can run concurrently with India’s males’s Test tour of Australia.
It can even be the primary women’s worldwide match on the MCG because the 2020 T20 World Cup closing between Australia and India. There are additionally T20Is scheduled for Adelaide Oval and the SCG. The latter has not hosted a women’s worldwide because the 2020 T20 World Cup semi-final. Each the MCG and SCG hosted WBBL matches final summer season.
“It is a tremendous alternative for the workforce to play at such an iconic Australian cricket venue and in such an enormous event like an Ashes collection,” Perry mentioned. “I feel all of us noticed that fixture and thought what a tremendous alternative and the way a lot risk that additionally carries in phrases of what it may do for the sport.”
“My ideas on that’s that we most likely want to do some extra quantifiable work on what’s handiest for the women’s sport,” Perry mentioned. “I’ve received a extremely small pattern measurement of one five-day Test match. And we managed to get a lead to that. So I suppose my bias skews in the direction of that, having performed a quantity of four-day video games the place we’ve not received outcomes.
“But it surely’s so contextual to the venue that you just play at, your opposition as nicely and simply numerous different circumstances. However I feel going ahead, that is going to be a query that retains popping up till we’re in a position to actually confirm what’s handiest for women’s Test matches.”
When pressed additional on what that quantifiable work ought to be, Perry was pragmatic.
“I feel we’re most likely going to have to play some extra five-day video games to determine that out. And what stage that is at I am undecided,” Perry mentioned.
The four-day women’s Checks are performed with 100 overs per day, which implies the sport is just 50 overs shorter in complete than a standard five-day Test with 90 overs per day.
Peter Roach, CA’s head of scheduling, was sturdy in stating CA’s desire for four-day video games.
“There’s continuous discussions on the suitable format for women’s Test cricket, and clearly we do not have an ideal financial institution of latest historical past to draw upon as a result of the ladies do not play as many Checks as the lads do,” he mentioned. “We’re regularly fascinated by methods we are able to enhance Test cricket however we’re actually strongly of the view that 4 days is the suitable format.
“We consider [the players] perceive the logic and there will be some gamers which can be supportive of that and there will be some gamers which have a special view and we perceive that. The job is to try to discover the suitable steadiness in all the pieces we do and to try to get the suitable end result for cricket and women’s cricket on this instance and present and future gamers to make this a sport that’s actually enticing and other people love to watch and assist.”
Australia have been very eager to proceed enjoying Checks on the WACA floor after the success of the latest outing towards South Africa. However Roach famous that the MCG pitch has had related tempo and bounce in males’s Test cricket in recent times and ought to be an equally good floor, whereas the chance to mark the 90-year anniversary of women’s Test cricket on the iconic venue was too good to cross up.
Perry mentioned Australia’s present gamers have been nicely conscious of the historic significance given their connection to previous gamers. There was a 50-year anniversary of Australia’s 1973 women’s World Cup workforce held in Melbourne final yr when Australia performed West Indies whereas a quantity of ex-players and women’s cricket directors have been celebrated on the 2020 World Cup closing.
“It is undoubtedly one thing that as a workforce we’re actually invested in, in phrases of firstly recognising and in addition understanding the historical past of the sport,” Perry mentioned. “It was actually pretty having everybody there on the Junction Oval throughout our collection towards the West Indies. We have quite a bit of private attachments to numerous gamers.
“Marg Jennings, who was half of that [1973] workforce, was the primary Australian selector that chosen me in my first tour. So I feel issues like which can be so essential in phrases of connection all through women’s cricket.
“The T20 World Cup closing again in 2020, there have been so many individuals related to the women’s cricket household at that closing who very a lot felt a component of it as nicely, simply being there and taking it in. I do know there’s some plans now that this fixture has been scheduled to do these issues, particularly have a good time the 90 years.”
Australia Ladies fixtures for 2024-25 season
T20I Sequence vs New Zealand
19 September: Nice Barrier Reef Area, Mackay (N)
22 September: Nice Barrier Reef Area, Mackay (N)
24 September: Allan Border Discipline, Brisbane (N)
ODI Sequence vs India
5 December: Allan Border Discipline, Brisbane (D/N)
8 December: Allan Border Discipline, Brisbane (D)
11 December: WACA Floor, Perth (D/N)
Ladies’s Ashes ODI Sequence vs England
12 January: North Sydney Oval, Sydney (D)
14 January: Junction Oval, Melbourne (D)
17 January: Bellerive Oval, Hobart (D)
Ladies’s Ashes T20I Sequence vs England
20 January: SCG, Sydney (N)
23 January: Manuka Oval, Canberra (N)
25 January: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide (N)
Ladies’s Ashes Test
30 January-2 February: MCG, Melbourne (D/N)
Alex Malcolm is an affiliate editor at ESPNcricinfo
