Australia & India's rain-affected draw demands five-day Tests for Women

By: WE Staff | Monday, 4 October 2021

As calls grew louder for a move to five-day games, a ball was bowled in the drawn Test between Australia and India in the day-night Test on the Gold Coast.

Both Australian captain Meg Lanning and coach Matthew Mott said one more day of play would have garnered a result.

This match was the ninth women Test played and the past four have ended in draws.

Based on average runs per wicket in women’s Test matches since 2000, renowned stats man Ric Finlay said the match, which was scheduled to have 100 overs for each of the four days, was always going to be “30 overs short”.

“In Aus since 2000, wickets in women’s Tests have been taken at the rate of 64.44 balls per wicket. If you want a 40-wicket Test, then that requires 2578 balls-but at 600 a day for 4 days, we are 30 overs short-we need 4.3 days,” Finlay posted on Twitter.

Australian coach Matthew Mott said that there were enough factors in the game which almost demanded a move from four-day matches to five, in line with men’s games.

“The last couple of Tests we’ve lost a full day of cricket, so you’re essentially playing a three-day game on a surface that doesn’t have any wear and tear,” he said. He added, “If this game had another day, I think you would have seen a very good Test match. Both teams, with an extra day’s play, would have forced hard for a result. We were working the numbers on how we could possibly get there. We had to nullify India by getting past the follow-on, which was a huge goal for us. Had we not done that it would have been all in their favour.”

“In women’s cricket as well, we don’t get as much wear and tear on the wicket…it’s a different game from that perspective; the spinners can’t get as much in the footmarks. Had there been more time in the game, we definitely would have tried to set up something where both teams were a chance to win and lose a game.”