England and South Africa in discussions over women's Test in 2022

JAMES COYNE - EXCLUSIVE: It would mean Tests for England Women in three consecutive summers if confirmed

England and South Africa are close to agreeing to play a women’s Test match next summer, The Cricketer understands.

England Women’s schedule for the 2022 summer has yet to be signed off by the ECB and Cricket South Africa. But South Africa could tour either before or after their players’ participation in the Commonwealth Games and The Hundred in late July and August.

There is no Future Tours Programme in women’s cricket, and the absence of regular Test matches from the global calendar has consistently been cited as a frustration by many international players, as so few of them are being exposed to the different skills and tactics required in multi-day, two-innings cricket.

England did begin their current series against India with a Test match, though there was some upset when it emerged that Bristol’s County Ground, which has a limited number of strips set aside for televised games, had produced a wicket previously used for a men’s Vitality Blast match.

When played, women’s Tests are still at four days’ duration – something of a hangover from the amateur days, as well as a means of saving money. England captain Heather Knight called for five-day Tests after the rain-hit India match ended in a draw. On the flipside, England did appear to miscalculate by leaving out their leg-spinner Sarah Glenn on the used pitch.

^{The Test between England and India ended in a draw at Bristol}

However, in a sign that things could be slowly changing, if a Test was signed off in 2022 it would mean England Women playing Tests in three consecutive summers, with a Test almost certain to be inked in for the 2023 Women’s Ashes in England.

In September Australia and India will also meet in a Test for the first time since 2006.

The big stumbling block for women’s Test cricket on a global scale is the fact that only the Big Three nations seem able – or willing – to meet the staging costs. This proposed match would be South Africa’s first women’s Test since 2014 (when they lost to India by an innings and 34 runs in Mysore) and the first involving any side other than England, Australia or India since then too.

England and South Africa have not played each other in a Test since 2003.

More Tests, please

Over the last two decades, ODI and T20I cricket have been prioritised as the means of generating funds and growing exposure for women’s cricket. None of New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies have played a women’s Test since the ICC took control of the women’s game from the old amateur body, the International Women’s Cricket Council in 2005.

South Africa had been set to come over for two T20Is and four ODIs in England in September 2020, but that trip was called off at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. West Indies stood in at the last minute.

The women’s calendar has been further complicated by a 12-month delay to the next Women’s World Cup in New Zealand until March and April 2022, meaning the next iteration of the ICC Women’s ODI Championship has not yet started.