Five-day Tests can be great, but not all women’s Tests need to be five days

A fifth day is not the only way to make women’s red-ball cricket more exciting. Having more Tests, even if there are shorter ones, between more teams, and playing them on good surfaces can do just as much for the game.

The first women’s Test match to throw up a result in eight years. The most runs on aggregate in any women’s Test. Only the seventh time in 145 matches that all 40 wickets fell. Time enough for a double century, a century, and two 10-wicket hauls, including a spinner’s five-wicket burst on a deteriorating surface on the final day. Ebbs and flows in every session.

The Women’s Ashes series opener at Trent Bridge was a great advertisement for having a fifth day in women’s Tests.