As per the full fixture list for 2026 international summer, featuring both the Men’s and Women’s teams, England has a packed season of cricket across all formats.
Talking of women’s schedule, a highlight of the summer is the ICC Women’s 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, Lord’s will host a women’s Test match alongside the marquee England Men’s Tests and the ICC Women’s 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 women’s ODI at the Ground, a significant milestone in the growth of women’s cricket in England.
MCC Chief Executive Rob Lawson said, ‘To host a women’s Test at Lord’s is a huge honour. With attendances on the rise and over 19,000 tickets sold for our recent women’s ODI, it’s only fitting we now host a Test.’ However, the iconic venue is likely to break the UK Women’s Test match attendance record, as until ten weeks prior to the Test at Lord’s, over 23,207 tickets had been sold. With the match not starting until 10 July and the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup just before it, the ticket sales are expected to surge further.
Fifty years ago, Rachael Heyhoe Flint led a women’s side onto the Main Ground, the Home of Cricket, and now the first ever women’s Test match is scheduled here. The Ground will also host four matches in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, including the Final that has already sold out.
MCC has seen rapid progress in women’s and girls’ cricket at Lord’s during all these years, and the same momentum is continuing. Recently MCC celebrated the women’s game with permanent visual markers which include:
– The exhibitions on women’s cricket in the MCC Museum.
– The installation of the Rachael Honey Flint Gate.
– A commemorative Women’s Ashes plaque in the Harris Garden.
– A portrait of Charlotte Edwards in the Long Room.
The women’s 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 Lord’s, while their male side generally play there twice a year. It’s on record that on both occasions England women have played at Lord’s over the last two years, they attracted a large crowd:
*21,610 spectators watched England Women take on Australia in the 2023 Ashes at Lord’s, the highest bilateral attendance for an England Women’s home international.
*The Hundred women’s final in 2025 at Lord’s drew 22,542
The fact is that the number of women's Tests is continuously decreasing and for the last three years no women’s Test match has been played in England. Overall, the MCC has maintained a strict man’s-only stance and that’s 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 Lord’s sold out for a women’s match is something I never thought I’d see.’
Important Lord’s 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 women’s ODI was played at Lord’s.
1990: A membership application from one R. Flint (Rachael Honey Flint, the most prominent woman cricketer of her generation) stirred the MCC.
1998: The Women’s Cricket Association merged into the new England and Wales Cricket Board, headquartered at Lord’s. 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 ECB’s Managing Director of Women’s Cricket, became the first ever female president of the MCC. The MCC presidency runs annually, and Connor’s 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).
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.