New Zealand Cricket turned down the chance to play a Test match as part of their recent women’s tour to England, CRICKETher can reveal.
The ECB officially invited NZC to play a Test in March 2022, when tour arrangements were initially being made, but the offer was declined.
Instead, the tour – which concluded at Lord’s on Wednesday – consisted entirely of 50-over and 20-over matches. All eight of the games were won by England.
New Zealand have not played a women’s Test since August 2004, but the recent revival of the format – with England, Australia, India and South Africa now regularly participating in Tests – had sparked hopes that New Zealand might also consider adding multi-day cricket to their schedule.
England played their first Test in India for 18 years in December, while last summer the ECB hosted the first five-day women’s Test since 1992 as part of the multi-format Women’s Ashes series.
A spokesperson from New Zealand Cricket said: “This decision (to decline) was based on strength and conditioning and preparation rationale, and most importantly, playing as much white ball cricket as possible in the lead-up to the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup.”
CRICKETher also notes that participating in a single Test would have cost New Zealand Cricket over $100,000 in match fees due to the recent equalisation of match fees with the men – a substantial sum which they can presumably ill-afford.
Suzie Bates, who has represented New Zealand since 2006 but never had the opportunity to play a Test, told the BBC this week: “In my long career, there hasn’t been a Test match. I have a little bit of envy when I watch the Ashes, of players that are playing the same sport as you that have those opportunities. You wonder what it would be like.“
“With the limited resources that we have currently, they [NZC] see more bang for their buck in the 20-over and 50-over format. It comes down to resources and time and money. They’ve made the decision that Test matches are not the priority right now.“
“I’m still hopeful that [a Test] may come in the future – that once the growth of the global women’s game starts to get more traction, the boards will see value in that.”
