Kiwi plea: Women’s cricket stars want Test against New Zealand to plug long-form gap
DISAPPOINTED Australian women’s cricketers have called for regular Test matches after being left without a baggy green showpiece in the schedule this summer.
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DISAPPOINTED Australian women’s cricketers have called for regular Test matches after being left without a baggy green showpiece in the schedule this summer.
Desperate to prove they are more than T20 specialists, leading player Ellyse Perry wants more nations given Test status in order to add five-day matches to the schedule.
Perry’s historic double century against England last year helped create a buzzing atmosphere at North Sydney Oval, with the day-night Test one of the highlights of the entire international Ashes campaign — men or women.
However, 12 months on and Cricket Australia have not followed up the booming success with a first-ever Test against New Zealand.
“That’s obviously the dream to pull on that baggy green and I think the more chances we get to play Test cricket obviously the better we’re going to get at it,” gun rookie Ash Gardner said.
“The more countries (playing) would give more exposure to show people we can actually play longer formats rather than just be stuck to the twenty over and 50-over formats.”
Cricket Australia has so far only considered playing Tests against England but Southern Stars players are now adamant New Zealand and other nations are up to the challenge.
“I certainly think there’s other countries that are up to that standard and probably have been for a number of years,” Perry said at yesterday at CA’s ticket launch.
“It’s probably been more about the precedence we’ve put on limited-overs cricket, particularly T20 cricket, in terms of helping us develop the game. And it rally has, you can’t deny that WBBL has been instrumental in the growth of women’s cricket in Australia.
“Now given we’re in such a healthy spot and there’s plenty more potential for the game, it might be a case that down the track we can revisit playing Test cricket against more nations and repeating a similar-style tournament competition we do for the Ashes where it’s a multi-format type series.”
The Kiwis will play three Twenty20 internationals starting at North Sydney on the night of the AFL grand final — with tickets now on sale — and then there will be three 50-over internationals in late February.
Australia’s women’s stars understand the push for Twenty20 cricket and are reaping the benefits. However, behind the scenes they’ve also voiced a desire for more longer-form cricket.
Teams play just six matches each in the WNCL 50-over competition, and despite the flourishing success of the WBBL, players don’t want to lose the skills of the longer formats.
“Going forward the players are interested in exploring more long-form cricket opportunities, particularly after such a successful Ashes Test last year,” said the players association back in May.
CA’s strategy has been to maximise the amount of Twenty20 internationals, not just for commercial reasons, but for the benefit of players with a World Cup in the West Indies later this year and then another on home soil in Australia in 2020.
Women’s cricket will receive unprecedented television coverage this summer, with Channel 7’s AFL grand final broadcast to move straight into Australia’s series opener against New Zealand from North Sydney in the evening.
“Straight after the AFL grand final in front of potentially a huge audience of over one million people is a wonderful opportunity for the sport,” Perry said.
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