ICC calls it a day for women’s Test cricket

KOLKATA:  In cricket, there will be no women in whites! The ICC is doing away with Test matches. Played mainly by England and Australia, women’s Tests are considered commercially unviable. 

A proposal to this effect by the ICC women’s committee is set to be ratified on Thursday, the last day of its ongoing meeting. Though the women’s game has started attracting TV audiences, the ICC considers the standard of women’s Test cricket not attractive enough.

The idea was first discussed last June. After deliberations, the women’s committee comprising former cricketers Shubhangi Kulkarni, Belinda Clark and Betty Timmer gave the nod to scrapping women’s Tests. ICC chairman Shashank Manohar and CEO Dave Richardson are also on the committee.

Women’s teams of England and Australia wrote to the ICC saying they should be allowed to play Ashes Tests, but didn’t convince many. The rest rarely play Tests.

“Ever since India started paying attention to women’s cricket, it’s getting better. But the standard of women’s Tests isn’t the same as other formats,” sources said.