Players from Australia and England have called for future multi-format Women’s Ashes series to include three Test matches, although the chances of that becoming a reality are slim, certainly in the next four years.
In the upcoming series, the one-off Test – a four-day match under floodlights at the MCG – will be played as the final instalment of the Ashes for the first time since it was introduced in 2013. The match is worth four points for a win and two for a draw meaning one side could be in a position knowing that avoiding defeat would be enough to win the series.
“From [the] workload [point of view], it would be quite tough with how busy our summers are, but personally I would love to see three, three, three,” Gardner, who took 8 for 66 in the previous Ashes Test, said. “It’s obviously going to make the tours a lot longer, [and] not sure where you are going to fit it in, knowing we are still going to have to play overseas competitions as well. It would be interesting to see over the next four to five years where that gets to.
“But I know personally I’d love to play more Test cricket against England. Playing the one Test feels like a bit of novelty sometimes. We obviously have some really good white-ball games against England and other nations around the world but think the way our teams match up it would be a really cool Test series to see who would come out on top for that. But don’t think that’s probably going to change anytime soon.”
“Space in the calendar is a real challenge. What I would like to see is more countries playing multi-format series more regularly”
Nick Hockley
“Absolutely, I completely agree with Ash,” she said. “I’d love to see three, three, three. The best thing about the Ashes is the narrative, the rivalry, how it builds over time. You saw in the India-Australia men’s Test series, the narratives build in a five-match series, and even in a three-match series, whether it’s the kind of things like [Jasprit] Bumrah always getting the same people out or things like that. As an opening batter, that’s part of why you love the game, that battle of trying to maybe getting one-up on an opening bowler, think it builds even more in Test cricket. That’s why I love getting the whites on and I’d love to see more.”
“Space in the calendar is a real challenge,” outgoing Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said. “What I would like to see is more countries playing multi-format series more regularly.”
The next FTP also sees the Women’s Premier League (WPL) move to January, meaning this Ashes series is the last time for at least four years that Australia will be able to play in the prime summer holiday window with their main international block moving to February and March.
“This is such an important series for us,” Gardner said. “The Ashes in general in such a big series, pretty much just behind the World Cup for us in my opinion. We’ve been so successful over the last five or six years, it’s probably one part of our game we’ve been a little bit disappointed with is not seeing as many people as we would have like.
“Obviously to have the T20 World Cup five years ago now and to pretty much sell out the MCG, then for Covid to kind of put dampener on the path Australian cricket was going… but fingers crossed after a pretty successful men’s Test series people can come and support our series as well because we are going up against our fiercest rivals and they just went against theirs.”
