Former Australian captain Meg Lanning said that the ICC should prioritise either increasing the number of Women's Tests or discontinuing the format altogether.
Despite regular ODIs and T20Is for women's teams, there has been a scarcity of Test matches. Over the last decade, only 12 women's Tests have been held.
Since 2014, England (10), Australia (8), India (6), and South Africa (2) are the four teams that have participated in this format.
'Difficult to prepare'
The 31-year-old Lanning said that due to lack of Test matches, players go into the games without much preparation.
"It's really difficult to prepare for a Test match. In my career, we were playing once every two years. It takes us two days to work out how to play it again, and then the Test is over," Lanning was quoted as saying on AAP.
"If you really want the games to be a good contest and more nations to play and players to understand the game a little bit more, I think we probably need to play more. Or you go the other way, and you don't play any at all, and you focus on the short-format stuff," she stated.
Lanning expressed her views following captain Alyssa Healy's suggestion that the ICC should arrange a three-match series instead of one-off Tests.
Previously, Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley advocated for an increase in Women's Tests. The last multi-match Test series occurred in 2006 when England toured India for two matches.
Recently, both India and South Africa have expressed their eagerness to participate in more women's Tests. The South African Women's team is set to play a Test against Australia later this month at the WACA in Perth.
"That's great if that means there can be more Tests in the calendar, I think that'll happen over time. But that's where I sit on it. It's either more or you sort of don't go there at all because I think once every so often is pretty difficult as a player," Lanning added.
Lanning is presently competing in the Women's National Cricket League, representing the Victoria women's team.
(Powered by AI, Inputs by India Today)
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