da supremo： Australia allrounder Ashleigh Gardner says the one-off Test can feel “a bit of novelty”, although she admits expansion is unlikely
da dobrowin： Andrew McGlashan08-Jan-2025Players 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.England need an outright points victory to regain the Ashes with Australia having clung on in 2023, which was shared 8-8 despite the visitors winning the Test at Trent Bridge, which began the series.Related
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Prior to the multi-format concept, the Ashes was decided purely on Test cricket. The last time a series involved more than a single game was in 2005 and Australia allrounder Ashleigh Gardner has led the call for three Tests to go alongside the three ODIs and three T20Is.”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.”England batter Tammy Beaumont, another star of the 2023 Test where she made a double-century, backed Gardner’s views on an expansion of the format, saying it would help build the storylines around a series.”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.”Late last year, the next four-year cycle of the Future Tours Programme was locked in and, while West Indies will return to Test cricket, further matches being added to Ashes series would appear unlikely.”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.”Ashleigh Gardner’s 8 for 66 secured Australia a vital victory in the 2023 Ashes Test•Getty Images
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.While the 2023 Ashes in England, which took place concurrently with the men’s series, drew record crowds, there is a sense in Australia that the game hasn’t quite been able to recapture the momentum that was building when the 2020 T20 World Cup final was played in front of 86,174 at the MCG only for Covid to shut down the world a few days later. Alongside the MCG Test in this Ashes, T20Is will also be played at the SCG and Adelaide Oval.”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.”
