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England Women vs India Women at Lords: Historic First Womens Test Set for Summer 2026

As per the full fixture list for 2026 international summer, featuring both the Mens and Womens teams, England has a packed season of cricket across all formats. Talking of womens schedule, a highlight of the summer is the ICC Womens T20 World Cup, scheduled from 12 June to 5 July 2026. England Women will play bilateral series against New Zealand, India, and Ireland on either side of the World Cup. For the first time, Lords will host a womens Test match alongside the marquee England Mens Tests and the ICC Womens T20 World Cup Final, in a blockbuster 2026 summer. England Women under Nat Sciver-Brunt shall face India in a Rothesay Test, at Lord's, from July 10. The historic moment shall mark 50 years of the first womens ODI at the Ground, a significant milestone in the growth of womens cricket in England. MCC Chief Executive Rob Lawson said, To host a womens Test at Lords is a huge honour. With attendances on the rise and over 19,000 tickets sold for our recent womens ODI, its only fitting we now host a Test. However, the iconic venue is likely to break the UK Womens Test match attendance record, as until ten weeks prior to the Test at Lords, over 23,207 tickets had been sold. With the match not starting until 10 July and the ICC Womens T20 World Cup just before it, the ticket sales are expected to surge further. Fifty years ago, Rachael Heyhoe Flint led a womens side onto the Main Ground, the Home of Cricket, and now the first ever womens Test match is scheduled here. The Ground will also host four matches in the ICC Womens T20 World Cup, including the Final that has already sold out. MCC has seen rapid progress in womens and girls cricket at Lords during all these years, and the same momentum is continuing. Recently MCC celebrated the womens game with permanent visual markers which include: - The exhibitions on womens cricket in the MCC Museum. - The installation of the Rachael Honey Flint Gate. - A commemorative Womens Ashes plaque in the Harris Garden. - A portrait of Charlotte Edwards in the Long Room. The womens Test with the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side is likely to see a fierce contest on the field over the four days as both sides will be looking to register a win. There has been a long debate as to why England women have never played a Test match at Lords, while their male side generally play there twice a year. Its on record that on both occasions England women have played at Lords over the last two years, they attracted a large crowd: *21,610 spectators watched England Women take on Australia in the 2023 Ashes at Lords, the highest bilateral attendance for an England Womens home international. *The Hundred womens final in 2025 at Lords drew 22,542 The fact is that the number of women's Tests is continuously decreasing and for the last three years no womens Test match has been played in England. Overall, the MCC has maintained a strict mans-only stance and thats why it has taken so many years for women to play a Test here. In 1986, when former India captain Diana Edulji was denied entry to the pavilion, she had suggested that the MCC change their name to MCP (male chauvinist pigs). Time changed speedily subsequently and in 2017, after defeating India in the World Cup final in front of a packed crowd, Heather Knight said seeing Lords sold out for a womens match is something I never thought Id see. Important Lords milestones wrt women's cricket: 1967: For the first time, the idea of admitting women as members was discussed by the Committee. 1976: The first womens ODI was played at Lords. 1990: A membership application from one R. Flint (Rachael Honey Flint, the most prominent woman cricketer of her generation) stirred the MCC. 1998: The Womens Cricket Association merged into the new England and Wales Cricket Board, headquartered at Lords. This again started the discussion on membership for women. Ultimately, the rules were changed to make either men or women eligible to apply to become members of MCC. A few months later, a group of 10 women were granted Honorary Life Membership. In 2021, Clare Connor CBE, former England captain, the first woman to lead her country to an Ashes win in 42 years, and at that point the ECBs Managing Director of Womens Cricket, became the first ever female president of the MCC. The MCC presidency runs annually, and Connors one-year tenure formally began on 1 October 2021 (after the term of her predecessor, Kumar Sangakkara, was extended by a year due to COVID). 2023: The birthplace of the Women's Ashes was honoured in a formal plaque ceremony in the Harris Garden. Also Read: Live Cricket Score When India Women take on England Women in the first ever women's Test match at Lord's, it will be a truly special occasion, and one of real significance for the game.