England Women Face India in First-Ever Lord's Test
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- England women play India in the first-ever women's Test at Lord's from Friday July 10 (first ball 11am, live on Sky Sports Cricket), having played 55 women's Tests at 19 other venues without ever featuring at the Home of Cricket.
- The fixture lands exactly 50 years after Rachael Heyhoe Flint led England women's first match at Lord's in 1976, and three years after the Independent Commission for Equality in Cricket labeled the absence of women's Tests at the ground "truly appalling".
- England are licking wounds from a seven-wicket ICC Women's T20 World Cup final defeat to Australia at the same Lord's ground less than a week earlier, with coach Charlotte Edwards saying the historic Test is a chance for new headlines.
- India enter as heavy favorites in the format, having beaten England in 11 of 15 prior Tests — England's only win was a two-run thriller in Jamshedpur in 1995 — and unbeaten in nine Tests on British soil (two wins, seven draws).
- Tammy Beaumont returns to the side for what is understood to be her final international appearance after a 17-year England career; Sophie Dean (back injury), Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson have been rested after the T20 World Cup.
- Potential Test debutants named in Charlotte Edwards' squad include Surrey duo Alice Capsey and Tilly Corteen-Coleman alongside Durham's Mady Villiers, with Heather Knight eyeing her 15th Test cap.
Why it matters: England have lost 11 of 15 Tests to India and not beaten them in the format since 1995, making the hosts decisive underdogs in a landmark occasion — and the match itself forces the MCC to back up its post-2023 equality report rhetoric with sustained scheduling, not just a one-off fixture.
Ask SkimNews
