Meg Lanning has called for five-day Tests and domestic red-ball cricket in the women’s game ahead of a season in which the Australians will play Tests against India and England.
Australia will play two four-day Tests as part of multi-format series against the visiting sides, who are currently facing each other in the first multi-format series not involving Australia.
Tests are still rare in the women’s game - only eight have been held in the past eight years - and the four-day format has been preferred in recent years.
The past three Women’s Ashes Tests have been drawn, as was the recent Test between England and India and Lanning believes the difficulty of achieving a win in fewer days provides a strong argument to adding an extra day to matches.
“I think it probably makes sense to take it out to five days, we saw in the last two, the Test match we played against England and the one just recently with England and India that there was a little bit of rain around and once that happens, it makes it pretty difficult to to get a result,” said Lanning.
“So I think pushing out the five days makes a lot of sense and I think you will get more results and then teams pushing for that.”
Women’s Tests are now broadcast to a wider audience, bringing the added pressure to play entertaining cricket.
And, while T20 in particular is widely seen by administrators as the best way to expand the game, Lanning believes the quality of the product would be significantly improved if players weren’t developing their red ball skills in the middle of a Test.
“I guess it also makes a lot of sense if we are going to be playing more Test matches internationally to have some sort of domestic structure in place,” Lanning said.
“I'm not sure exactly how you do that but you know it's hard to get better at something if you're not practising and doing it at the level below.
“I think that's something we could potentially look at doing. What it looks like I'm not sure but I think to give us the best chance to perform at the international level or play the way we want to we need to be practising, so it'll be interesting to see how that pans out.”
Why Lanning and other Aussies withdrew from The Hundred
Last week several Australians, including Lanning and national coach Matthew Mott, withdrew from the inaugural Hundred tournament in England.
The new tournament runs from July 22nd to August 22nd but the India tour starts on September 19th and, given the current quarantine restrictions, the Australians felt the turnaround was too tight to manage.
“It was a very difficult decision,” admitted Lanning.
“And I know it was for a number of players as well. I certainly thought about it a lot and tried to work out ways in which I could be involved in it and I think it's a really important step in the women's game, the Hundred.
“I think it will bring new people to the game and as a player, it'd be really exciting to be part of something new and different and a good challenge.
"So, hopefully, the Hundred is going for many years to come and there is a window to be able to play in it because I know all the Australian players over here, were really keen to be a part of it.”
“Unfortunately this year just didn't quite fit into the schedule so I guess I’m frustrated, not to be able to be involved in it, but national duties I guess is number one and unfortunately it didn't quite work out.”
