Would love to see a WTC in women’s cricket but not now: Beaumont

A near decade after hosting its last Test, India are ready to host a women’s Test match in the country. India's last Test at home came in Mysore against South Africa in 2014, a fixture where India were victorious by innings and 34 runs. Since 2017, there have been only six Tests played in women’s cricket, with only three out of the six coming outside the Women’s Ashes - a competition that regularly houses the red-ball clash. 

Outside of the top few nations, Test cricket is a rarity in women’s cricket, with the focus solely on the different white-ball formats - notably T20Is. Not just that, ICC’s Chairman Greg Barclay also brushed aside the progress of the red-ball format in women’s cricket, stating that “white-ball cricket is the future”. 

Tammy Beaumont, a Test veteran, having played eight games, stated that there are only three-four nations who play the red-ball format regularly. Not just that, she also opened up on the prospect of Tests, stating that only a few governing bodies could afford to host Tests in women’s cricket. 

"At the moment it is only three or four nations playing Test match cricket regularly, and potentially only three or four governing bodies who can afford to host women's Test cricket," Beaumont said in the pre-match press conference. 

"It would have to be a very big investment from the ICC that I don't think they are probably willing to put in to. They're still trying to develop the T20 game across the globe, the way you've seen Thailand and other teams coming into T20 cricket, that should be focus,” she added.

Beaumont, though, had an idea on how the red-ball format could make more headlines, stating that more nations should adopt a multi-format series, something that would prompt teams to focus more on Test cricket. 

"I would love to see more nations do the multi-format series like the Ashes - say India come over and we do Test match, ODIs and T20s and an overall winner from that and do the same with South Africa, New Zealand all those and build it from there," she said.

While men’s cricket already has seen two editions of the World Test Championship (WTC), there are no talks about whether the format would transverse to women’s cricket. Beaumont stated that it is too early and unfair on many teams for WTC to be implemented in women’s cricket. 

"One day I would like to see a WTC but at the moment, I don't think it would be fair when, say India, Australia and England have played a lot of Tests in the last four years and other teams like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand have not played Test cricket in the last 15 years. The imbalance is still there and we need to build it from the ground up a little bit longer and definitely have many Tests,” she added.

Danni Wyatt made her Test debut at the age of 32 earlier in the year against Australia. Having made her international debut back in 2010, the opener only made her maiden appearance in the red-ball format a few months back. Beaumont stated that you are constantly ‘a young player’ at women’s Test cricket. 

"As a group of players, you do feel a bit more anxious around a Test match week just because it is a bit novel. The likes of myself, Heather Knight, Nat Sciver-Brunt we have been playing international cricket for 12-13 years but haven't played that many Tests. If you think of that in terms of white-ball cricket, that's your first year. So there's more nerves because we haven't mastered it because we haven't had the opportunity to master it.

"You look at someone like Danni Wyatt - she made her debut at Trent Bridge at 32. You are constantly a young player at Test cricket, no matter how old your body feels. In the men's game, 10 Tests is not even a career; that's just a start."