Lord's Cricket Ground will host its first-ever women's Test match. England will play India in a four-day game starting Friday. This comes 142 years after the venue held its first men's Test.
India's coach, Amol Muzumdar, expressed his surprise that it's taken this long. He called it a "great occasion" that the team is excited for.
A Long Journey to Lord's
The first women's match at Lord's was an international one-day game in 1976. England beat Australia by eight wickets. Rachael Heyhoe Flint, a key figure in women's cricket, captained England that day. She passed away in 2017 and now has a gate named after her at Lord's.
We're a new kind of news feed.
Regular news is designed to drain you. We're a non-profit built to restore you. Every story we publish is scored for impact, progress, and hope.
Start Your News DetoxIn 1976, women cricketers wore skirts, not trousers. The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which owns Lord's, did not allow women members for decades. The idea of women walking through the Long Room of the pavilion was a distant dream.
Megan Lear, who played for England in that 1976 match, compared it to the moon landing. She told The Guardian it was "one small step for us women cricketers, but one giant leap towards the future."
Things have changed greatly since those amateur days. Now, professional teams play at Lord's. England recently played Australia in the women's T20 World Cup final there, drawing a full crowd. Nine players from that World Cup squad are in the Test team. Captain Nat Sciver-Brunt hopes to play despite a calf injury.
Making History
England coach Charlotte Edwards said the team has been preparing for this Test. She noted it's a "historic Test match" for both England and India. Edwards was England's captain when they won the 2009 Women's T20 World Cup final at Lord's.
Eighteen-year-old spinner Tilly Corteen-Colman understands the importance of the event. She recalled how Edwards told her women weren't allowed in the Long Room before. Corteen-Colman said being involved in the first women's Test at Lord's would be "incredible."
This match will also be the last international game for England batter Tammy Beaumont. She has played 260 times for England over 17 years. In 2023, she became the first English woman to score a double century in a Test, with 208 against Australia.
Beaumont said she barely knew playing cricket for England was an option when she was young. The 35-year-old will continue to play domestic cricket. She feels the first women's Test at Lord's is the "perfect occasion" to end her international career.
General view of the stands at Lord’s Cricket Ground [Cat Goryn/Action Images via Reuters]
