WI Women ready to take on Australia in Red-Ball Test match

West Indies (WI) Women are preparing for a long-awaited and historic return to Test cricket when they face Australia at home this year, thus ending a 22-year absence from the longest format of the game. A date for the one-off test match is yet to be announced.
The Caribbean side last played a women’s Test match in 2004 against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi. Since then, the women’s game in the region has been dominated by white-ball cricket, with players excelling in One Day Internationals and Twenty20 formats.
The upcoming Test against Australia will mark a significant milestone for women’s cricket in the West Indies, and a bold step by Cricket West Indies (CWI) to reintroduce red-ball cricket at the highest level.
Speaking on a recent Sean Devers Sports Watch broadcast, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CWI, Chris Dehring, acknowledged the challenge but expressed confidence in the squad’s ability to adapt.

“Well, obviously, it’s not ideal, but these are talented ladies, and they’re very experienced as well,” Dehring said. “So, you’re hoping that they can translate some of that experience from the white ball to the red ball.”
Dehring revealed that extensive preparations are already underway at the CWI High Performance Centre in Antigua. According to him, the women have participated in several training camps designed specifically to bridge the gap between limited-overs cricket and the demands of Test match play.
“We’ve had some very interesting spells where we had the academy males playing with the ladies to get them accustomed to quicker bowling and different types of bowlers,” he explained. “It’s been quite an interesting experiment to try and translate what they know in the white-ball game to the red-ball format and have them as best prepared as possible.”
Australia, the dominant force in women’s Test cricket, will provide a stern examination for the West Indies side. Dehring, nevertheless, believes attitude and hunger could prove just as important as experience.
“They’re looking forward to testing themselves,” he said. “You can’t want for better attitudes from these ladies, who are dying to show what they can do at the Test level.”
The announcement of the 2026 Test match has been welcomed by fans and former players alike, many of whom have long called for the revival of women’s Test cricket in the Caribbean.
It also signals CWI’s commitment to providing equal opportunities across formats for its women cricketers.