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To commemorate the
90th anniversary of the inaugural women’s Test series, Australia will face
England in a four-day pink-ball women’s Ashes Test at the MCG in January.
However, there is still disagreement over whether four-day or five-day cricket
is still the ideal format for female players.
The multiformat women’s Ashes series will take place in January to conclude a
summer at home that featured a T20I series against New Zealand prior to the T20
World Cup in Bangladesh in September, and a three-match ODI series against
India in December that coincided with the men’s Test tour of Australia by
India. Cricket Australia released its schedule for the 2024–25 season on
Tuesday.
Following the
success of the past two Ashes Tests at North Sydney Oval and Canberra, CA has
committed to hosting the women’s Ashes at several prominent locations around
the nation. Ninety years will have passed since the inaugural women’s Test
series between Australia and England in 1934–35, and the sole Test in the next
series will be the first women’s Test to be played at the MCG since 1948–49.
Additionally, it will be the first women’s international game played at the MCG
since Australia and India’s 2020 T20 World Cup final. T20Is are also planned
for the SCG and Adelaide Oval. Since the 2020 T20 World Cup semi-final, the
latter has not hosted a women’s international.
Australia’s star
allrounder Ellyse Perry was aware of the gravity of the fixture.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for the team to play at such an iconic
Australian cricket venue and in such a big occasion like an Ashes series,”
Perry said. “I think we all saw that fixture and thought what an amazing
opportunity and how much possibility that also carries in terms of what it
could do for the game.”
But there is still
debate on whether women’s Tests should be four or five-day fixtures. The last
Ashes Test played was a five-day game at Trent Bridge, which Australia won.