India try to put their World Cup disappointment behind in the first ever Women's Test match at Lord's

India Women of England

There have been a total of 152 Women's Test conducted since the debut game in 1934, but shockingly none of them have been played at the "Home of cricket", The Lord's Cricket Stadium. India and England Women will create history when they face-off in the maiden Women's Test match at Lord's starting this Friday. India will be looking to move on from a poor T20 World Cup campaign where they were dumped out at the Group Stage whereas England lost the final to eventual winners Australia at home putting a heart-breaking end to an otherwise excellent journey.

India Women has never lost a Test in England. They lead England 3-1 in 15 games between these teams and 2-0 in the 9 games hosted by England with 7 draws. India hold an overall record of 8-7 in 42 Tests whereas the hosts have mustered 21 wins and 17 losses in the 102 Tests they have participated in. 10 teams have participated in Women's Test cricket until now which includes the likes of Ireland and Netherland although Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are yet to play the longest format. There have been 93 draws in the 152 Women's Tests so far which is predominantly a four-day fixture with 100 overs allotted per day and a follow-on margin reduced to 150 runs. 

Only four countries have been part of Women's Test cricket in the past 18 years which includes Australia, England, India and South Africa. The visitors will be led by Harmanpreet Kaur who has captained them four times in her career of 7 matches. Openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma are the current highest run-scorers for India in Test cricket. The squad also features Jemimah Rodrigues, Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol, Richa Ghosh and Priya Punia, who replaced the injured Pratika Rawal in the batting department. Ghosh and Bhatia are the designated wicket-keepers. Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana and Sayali Satghare will form the all-round options. Rana is India's highest wicket-taker in the longest format among active cricketers with 24 wickets followed by Deepti who has 22. Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh and rookie Nandini Sharma are the pacers partnered by Sree Charani's finger-spin. Shree Charani, Nandini, Harleen and Priya are the uncapped players.

India and England will face-off in the first Women's Test at The Lord's Cricket Ground

England's highest century-maker in International cricket, Tammy Beaumont has announced her retirement from International cricket following the conclusion of this one-off game. Nat Sciver-Brunt will captain the side although they have rested their vice-captain Charlie Dean for this match. Beaumont will open alongside Maia Bounchier who scored a century on her debut versus South Africa. Heather Knight, skipper Nat, Alice Capsey and Emma Lamb are the other batters. One of Amy Jones and newbie Eleanor Threlkeld will take the gloves. With Dean rested, Mady Villiers will take her place as an off-spinning all-rounder. Lauren Bell, Lauren Filer, Grace Potts and Issy Wong are the seam options. Sophie Ecclestone and Tilly Coteen-Coleman both offer left-arm finger-spin. Capsey, Mady and Coleman are yet to play the longest format while Potts and Threlkeld are yet to debut for the hosts in International cricket. 

Heather Knight and Nat Sciver-Brunt are the two highest run-scorers for England among active cricketers with 970 and 883 runs respectively. Sophie Ecclestone with 40 wickets in the highest wicket-taker in this squad. Beaumont and Shafali are part of the double-centurion club in Women's Tests which includes 10 cricketers. Sneh Rana and Ecclestone form two of the 13 Women who have completed a ten-wicket match haul in Women's Tests. India's three match winning-run was halted by the Aussie team at The WACA earlier this year with a 10-wicket victory. England will be hoping to improve their record against the visitors although the Asian side has recently dominated England in their home conditions across formats. India won the last Test between these teams in 2023 by 347 runs at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai.

Conditions in England have generally favored the pace bowlers although spin has always played a huge part in Women's cricket. The last Test match hosted at Lord's was between England and New Zealand last month, the second-shortest game ever at this ground. ICC gave the pitch an unsatisfactory rating and the MCC themselves apologized about the playing surface which was poor in quality offering uneven bounce from the first ball. The recent pitch for the Women's World Cup was much better and more of the same is expected with the ground under scanner. The weather is expected to remain sunny throughout the match due to a heat-wave across Europe with temperatures reaching a high of 31°C. It will be interesting to see the final composition of the playing XI with both sides featuring four seam and three spin options in their final fifteen.

References: Statsguru by ESPNCricinfo
By Shekhar Tomar

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