Search

show me:

Perry wants India Test to be the start

3 minute read

Australia and India will clash in a landmark women's pink-ball Test at the WACA this summer.

ELLYSE PERRY of Australia.
ELLYSE PERRY of Australia. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty Images

Ellyse Perry wants this summer's rare Test match against India to lay the platform for all top-tier women's cricket tours to involve all three formats.

Australia's players were granted their long-held desire on Thursday, with a landmark pink-ball Test against India at the WACA on September 30.

Tests are so rare for Australia's women that Perry admitted she doesn't even know where her Baggy Green is between moves, hoping to locate it at her parents' house.

The fixture will mark just the second women's Test between Australia and India since 1991, with Australia having only donned the whites against England in the past 15 years.

The tour will also involve three T20 and three ODIs, with hopes it will be played in a similar style to the Ashes where points are awarded for all seven matches for an overall winner.

But either way, the four-day Test match starting September 30 is a win and Perry wants more of the multi-formatted series.

New Zealand have also not played a Test match against any side since 2004, while Australia have never faced the up-and-coming South Africans.

"I've been a proponent of that for a while now," Perry said.

"I think it just provides wonderful context and competition to a series and a great amount of excitement for our summer as well.

"When the team gets the opportunity to play all three formats and be tested in that ... It's great for cricket and keeping fans involved.

"Hopefully now doing that against India might provide a platform to play that against other nations too."

India will also face England in a Test this winter.

The announcement also means Australia will play two Tests at home this summer, with the Ashes to follow in January.

And Perry is hopeful that can create change underneath the international level.

Domestic women's cricket in Australia has been restricted to 1994-95, when two-day matches slipped off the calendar.

There has been a desire from different quarters to one day return to more red-ball cricket, particularly if there were more Tests for players to prepare for.

"I just think it's great for the development of players," Perry said.

"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.

"Introducing games over multiple days is a great way for girls to play more cricket and be exposed to more match time."

The India series will meanwhile start a busy stretch for Meg Lanning's team.

Australia will also host England in the multi-format women's Ashes before heading to New Zealand to try to win back the ODI World Cup.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where cricket returns to the schedule in the form of women's T20s, then awaits.

Think. Is this a bet you really want to place?

For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit www.gamblinghelponline.org.au