England will host India for a women’s Test match in the summer of 2026 at Lord’s. Of the six major Test match venues in England, Lord’s was the only one to have never hosted women’s Test cricket.

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MCC used to be notorious in their stance of denying women entry to Lord’s. It had taken a long, sustained effort from the Women’s Cricket Association to get Lord’s to host a women’s ODI in 1976, between England and Australia.

Even then, it was not received well by the MCC members. “Cricket is a game where concentration is very important, and women are the greatest distraction a man can have around,” reported the Evening News. “There was some shaking of heads when members learned the ladies were allowed into the male-only pavilion.” Some members hoped for rain, but much to their horrors, the match went ahead.

The MCC also maintained a strict men’s-only stance as far as entry to several sections of Lord’s was concerned. Denied entry to the pavilion in 1986, former India captain Diana Edulji famously asked MCC to change their names to MCP (male chauvinist pigs).

It was not before 1998 that the MCC accepted women as members. In 2021, Clare Connor became the first ever female president of the MCC.

It was, thus, not surprising when Heather Knight said “seeing Lord’s sold out for a women’s match is something I never thought I’d see” after winning the World Cup final against India in 2017 in front of a packed crowd.

In all, Lord’s has hosted 16 women’s ODIs (another scheduled ODI was abandoned) and three T20Is.

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