It seems mind-boggling that Ellyse Perry is the most experienced Test player in the current Australian squad.
Arguably Australia’s best-ever female allrounder, Perry has played a whopping eight - eight - Tests in her career.
Rachael Haynes has played five and Meg Lanning four. All three have represented Australia for at least a decade.
Perry is, naturally, delighted that CA and the BCCI have scheduled a day-night Test at the WACA during India’s tour in September and October.
“It's absolutely wonderful and I think the sentiment right across the team is that any opportunity to play Test match cricket is a really really special one for us,” said Perry, speaking to journalists after the announcement.
“And now to be doing that against another nation in India, as well as England, in the one summer and also at home and at two really great cricket grounds is something to really look forward to.”
But while two Tests in a summer is cause for celebration, the longest form of the game remains an outlier in women’s cricket.
Only four countries have played Test cricket since 2007 and all but one - India v South Africa in 2014 - have involved Australia, England and India.
National governing bodies and the ICC overwhelmingly view T20 cricket as the key format for marketing and expanding the women’s game. It’s more attractive to broadcasters, requires shorter tours, and is easier to introduce in countries where cricket doesn’t have a traditional base.
Yet it’s clear that players want more Tests or, in the case of countries like New Zealand and West Indies, maybe even just one.
"Introducing games over multiple days is a great way for girls to play more cricket and be exposed to more match time" - Ellyse Perry
Without the experience of multi-day domestic cricket, female Test players must make the significant leap to four-day cricket and adjust both physically and tactically when the rare opportunity arises.
Women’s Tests have too often been played on flat pitches and, with a multi-format points series often riding on avoiding a loss, teams have leaned towards a conservative approach.
Then there is the pressure of putting on a good show: some will tune in on televisions and laptops and judge whether there is any value in the very existence of women’s Test cricket based on a one-off match on a dull pitch in a format they almost never play.
“I guess the biggest challenge is just making sure that we do it justice and produce a high quality and entertaining game and that is sometimes hard when you're just playing the one-off Test match, whether it's conditions or times that don't promote results,” said Perry.
“I guess just experience and different tactical demands. Obviously, the more you play, the better we get with those things. So, as I say, it's not challenging, it's really exciting but we’d certainly love to play more just to hone those skills.”
The ICC Women’s Championship, in which the top eight countries must play at least three ODIs against all other teams, forms the basis of most women’s tours.
Three T20Is will often be played in addition to the mandatory ODIs. But there has been little appetite to allocate the additional time and resources required to throw a Test match into the mix.
A 2 test summer is something I never thought I’d get to experience (if selected). Congrats to all involved in making it happen! It might not be what everyone wants to watch but it’s exactly what every young girl dreams of being a part of!@AusWomenCricket @ACA_Players @BCCIWomen
— Alyssa Healy (@ahealy77) May 20, 2021
Perry hopes more Tests can be added to white ball tours and is a fan of the points system that decides the women’s Ashes. She hopes it will be adopted for the India series, a detail yet to be confirmed.
"I've been a proponent of that for a while now. I think it just provides wonderful context in competition to a series and a great amount of excitement for our summer as well,” said Perry.
“When the team gets the opportunity to play all three formats and be tested in that and for all those different formats that are combined to a series being competed in, and hopefully won.
"It's great for cricket and I think it keeps fans and people watching involved right across the series. It certainly works in the Ashes and hopefully now doing it against India might provide a platform to play that against other nations, too.”
Balancing the need to grow the game through T20 cricket and the players’ desire to play more Tests is not simple. And, while Australia’s elite cricketers are paid better and enjoy the benefits of a more professional environment, other countries struggle to get a meaningful T20 or one-day domestic competition off the ground.
The idea that multi-day domestic cricket could form a base for more Test cricket seems distant when the world’s richest board, the BCCI, won’t commit to a women’s IPL.
And yet, Perry believes that longer formats would lead to better players.
“The biggest impediment to domestic players getting the opportunity to continue to improve and develop is just their chance to play enough competitive level cricket,” said Perry.
“And introducing games over multiple days is a great way for girls to play more cricket and be exposed to more match time. Aside from the benefit of preparing players for red ball cricket, it's just great for overall development and cricket skill development as well.”
The WACA is a particularly tantalising venue for the Test against India. Perry was player of the match the last time a women’s Test was played there, in 2014, in a 61-run loss to England. The handful of people lucky enough to be there (I was one) witnessed arguably the greatest women’s Test of the modern era.
It was a contest in which the momentum swung wildly from day to day, the Fremantle Doctor wove its magic, and the pace and bounce of the pitch allowed bowlers and batters alike to display their full potential.
“The WACA is probably the best place for us to play Test matches, just given that extra carry and bounce in the wicket,” Perry said.
“Based on the game I played there, quite a while ago now, that was one of the most competitive Test matches I've been involved in and the game just ebbed and flowed and I think a lot of that had to do with conditions.”
The timing of the Pink Ball Test in Perth means it will be broadcast on Fox Sports in prime time across Australia and played in a favourable time zone for India. The players have a worthy venue and a prominent shop window and, if it comes close to the quality of the last Test played at the WACA, it may well increase the appetite for more.
The addition of a second Test to the summer is undoubtedly a significant step forward but, without a considered long-term plan by administrators throughout the world, it’s hard to know just where women’s Test cricket fits in, if it fits in at all.
And until domestic structures include at least some multi-day cricket, the game won’t be providing them the best possible platform to truly do it justice.
