When women’s cricket is given a platform on which to entertain, it’s been proved time and time again that it won’t disappoint.
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It’s been seen across white-ball formats, with World Cup classics littered over the most recent competitions. The importance of the Hundred in this country to the expansion of its fanbase, as well as the WPL, have all allowed it to shine. This Test stands as one of the greatest examples of that over the last few years. It allowed the players to take centre stage, away from the greater questions.
Setting aside the result or the biases of personal allegiance, this was a brilliant game. It had pretty much everything. Lauren Filer was the unknown debutante who bowled with express pace and ruffled the feathers of some of the best batters in the game. Sophie Ecclestone put in the consummate performance of an elite Test match spinner to bowl for as long as she did over the first four days. Tammy Beaumont broke records to become England Women’s first double centurion. Ellyse Perry was out for an agonizing 99, Annabel Sutherland made a century from No.8, and this morning, Ash Gardner ripped through England to ensure they didn’t chase a gettable total.
The last time a women’s Ashes Test ended in a result was at Canterbury in 2015. Across both sides in this Test, six players featured in that game. England were comprehensively beaten back then, bowled out twice for less than 200, while Australia declared twice. No one scored a fifty for England, and no one took a five-for. This game will hurt because of how close England came, but it will also have been a more positive experience. Test cricket shouldn’t need one side to have a shocker for the other to win.
This Test needed to end in a result. At several points over the first few days, it looked dangerously close to ambling towards a draw. As vindication for winning the battle to put a fifth day onto women’s Tests, that would have been a disappointing end. But it’s thanks to the skills of those on the field that the match was dragged back to a point where, on the evening of the penultimate day, it could have gone either way.
Despite the prospect of less than a session’s play this morning, 2,283 people made the trip to Trent Bridge, and over 23,000 passed through the gates over five days. Against South Africa last summer, 7,000 people saw England play South Africa in the Test at Taunton. That is an unquestionable success, but the crowds the women can draw and the advert for the game they create should not become the main show.
When Amy Jones was out in the first innings, Alyssa Healy was heard over the stump mic speculating how often Jones was out in that manner, given the hold Perry has over her. Jones has a dismal record against Australia, and reminding her of that dug the needle in. In the post-match press conference, Heather Knight talked about inflicting scars on Australia in this game and Healy emphatically vowed to continue playing the series despite a broken finger on each hand.
These are examples of what’s always been there in women’s cricket: competitiveness, high stakes and rivalry. That shouldn’t be lost among the exultations of how many new fans watched the game or how well they did for the limited Tests they play.
With this in mind, hopefully, this game will spell the end for any debate over five-day women’s Tests, if only so the captains and coaches can stop being asked about it in interviews. It’s a given that the cricket will be more exciting when given an increased chance of a result. That shouldn’t need to be clarified.
Four new names will be added to the honours board at Trent Bridge in the next few days. Sutherland, Ecclestone (x2), Beaumont and Gardner will join the ranks of Larwood, Bradman, Dravid and Murali. If England can defeat all the odds in this series and win five of the next six games to regain the Ashes, it will be one of the all-time great stories. Similarly, if Australia continue to dominate as expected, it will be another exhibition of their supremacy over the game and the winning machine they’ve created. As always, it’s the players on the field at the heart of that story.
