Triumphant ladies at Lord's: The Test match that broke more than just records

The biggest news today isn't that France or Spain has reached the World Cup final. They've been there before. They've won before. The most significant thing to take in with this morning's cuppa is that India's women in whites won their maiden Test at Lord's on Monday. They got their first opportunity at playing a Test at the home of cricket. And it was glorious.

The moment when it came was quintessentially Indian cricket. A tossed-up off-break with plenty of revs on it drew the bat forward. The ball dropped as it does when the best offies love it, and broke sharply enough off the surface to sneak between bat and pad and clatter into the stumps.

Sneh Rana was engulfed by her teammates as India, which bossed the Test match for its entire duration, completed a thumping 270-run win against England.


Rana had for company Smriti Mandhana, whose 1st-innings 83 set the tone, well supported by half-centuries from Harmanpreet Kaur, the proud captain, and Deepti Sharma. And there was Kranti Gaud, all the way from Ghuwara in Madhya Pradesh, painting her name onto the honours board with 5 for 37. She was followed there by Yastika Bhatia, whose record-breaking 113 allowed India to bat England out of the game.

It was 50 yrs ago that women first played an international at Lord's. Rachael Heyhoe-Flint led England to an 8-wicket win against Australia on the day in 1976. But it was not the most straightforward occasion. When the England team had to take the field, for example, they could not go through the 'Men Only' Long Room, and the players had to walk out the back and around the pavilion to the field of play.

The change rooms were built for only one gender, and the hosts addressed this by placing plant pots in the urinals. When a bottle of champagne was produced in the aftermath, the players sipped it from teacups, because that's all that was available in the dressing room.

It might surprise a few that it was as late as 1999 when the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) admitted its first female members. Lord's gets its home-of-cricket status from being base of the MCC, still the custodians of the Laws of Cricket.

The rest of the world may be staggered that it has taken Lord's 50 yrs since staging a women's game to host a Test match. But the MCC - and its ground - were notoriously exclusive, to the point of misogyny, and even this game was eventuated by a damning report of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket in 2023 that observed: 'The 'home of cricket' is still a home principally for men.'

India's win is a defining moment in history, no doubt. But it is not surprising. India is currently the only country to have a domestic red-ball 4-day tournament for women. Australia has one match a year, and the rest of the cricket world none.

India last played a Test earlier this year. England hadn't since January 2025. Eight of the players in the India XI had played a red-ball match in the last two seasons. Contrast this to Heather Knight, England's most-capped Test player, who has never featured in a domestic first-class game.

It might come as a surprise that India are leading the way in women's cricket. This certainly was not always so. But credit is due to current ICC chairperson Jay Shah, who pushed forward the agenda when he was BCCI secretary. Women's Premier League (WPL) is a thriving and lucrative franchise competition in India, and players from around the world now look to it.

ICC recognises the opportunity before it. 'Cricket is assuming cultural significance among women in certain countries like Brazil where football is really big,' ICC chief executive Sanjog Gupta recently said. 'Women gravitate towards cricket as a means of finding their own identity, and a platform for belonging. The fact it's a team sport and that it intrinsically entails social connections lends itself to driving a sense of belonging for a community which feels a little cut off from certain facets of their culture. In emerging markets, women's cricket is playing the leading role in driving participation and also the elevation of performance standards,' he added.

India winning the first Lord's Test in such emphatic fashion ensures that the next time they're here, they will be welcomed more like they belong, and less like they are fortunate to be allowed the privilege of playing in one of the world's great venues. The home of cricket will live up to its name more fully after names of India's daughters adorn the honours board.

Until 1999, the 'Queen and cleaning staff' were the only women allowed in the Long Room. Harmanpreet and her class of 2026 have shown that they need no one's permission to make the home of cricket their own.