England Women Play First-Ever Lord's Test vs India
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- England women will face India in a one-off Test at Lord's from 10-13 July (11:00 BST), the first women's Test at the venue, staged six days after the T20 World Cup final drew over 28,000 fans to the same ground.
- Nat Sciver-Brunt will captain England in a Test for the first time but cannot bowl due to a calf injury that already ruled her out of the start of the summer and three World Cup group games.
- Charlotte Edwards, head coach and former captain, told BBC Woman's Hour she played her first Test in a skirt and paid for her own blazer, adding that when she first played at Lord's women weren't allowed in the ground.
- Six players from England's World Cup final XI — Knight, Bell, Capsey, Ecclestone, Jones and Sciver-Brunt — are in the Test squad, while rested vice-captain Charlie Dean has been named in Somerset's T20 Blast squad for the same day.
- The Test was added to England's calendar in 2024 after the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket described it as "appalling" that England women had never played a Test at Lord's, which celebrated its 150th men's Test earlier this summer.
- New faces in the squad are wicketkeeper Ellie Threlkeld, spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman, all-rounder Mady Villiers and fast bowler Grace Potts, with scorching temperatures forecast likely requiring a second spinner alongside Ecclestone.
- Sciver-Brunt cited scheduling as the main barrier, saying the tight gap between the T20 World Cup and the Hundred shaped this year's calendar, though she noted multi-format tours are becoming more common.
Why it matters: Lord's is hosting its first-ever women's Test despite celebrating its 150th men's Test earlier this summer — a gap the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket called "appalling" in 2023. For Charlotte Edwards, who bought her own blazer and was barred from the ground as a player, the fixture marks a generational shift at the sport's most iconic venue, even if scheduling pressures mean the women's game still fights for calendar space.
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