Hope says Windies women’s return to Test cricket a step in the right direction; Graves hopes Hayley Matthews gets to play format at home

With West Indies women set to make a return to Test cricket after a 20-year hiatus from the sport’s longest format, men’s ODI captain Shai Hope welcomed the move as a step in the right direction.

Hope’s comments came after the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced its line-up for the Blockbuster Women’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) for 2025-2029.

The Maroon women reignite the region’s Test status when they play host to Australia for one match in 2026, 50 years after the Caribbean team made its Test debut against the Australians in 1976.

England women play against the West Indies in 2027, and this will be the first meeting between the two teams in this format since 1979. It was also confirmed that the West Indies women will travel to South Africa for an away Test in 2028.

Shai Hope.

WI women have not played a Test match since 2004. Their short record from four Test series stands at three draws and one loss to England.

The Maroon team played Australia (0-0) in 1976, India in 1977 (1-1), lost to England (2-0) in 1979, and drew against Pakistan (0-0) in 2004. The 1976 match against Australia was the last time West Indies played a Test match at home.

“It is always a step in the right direction. Anytime you get opportunities to excel and improve,” Hope said on Tuesday ahead of his team’s decisive ODI clash against England in Barbados.

“I think it is going to be great for the women’s game because anytime you’re playing the longer format, it tests your skills in a different way, and you can always use what you learnt from that format into the other formats. So I think it is a step in the right direction, and I wish them all the best,” he added.

Johnny Grave, whose tenure as Cricket West Indies CEO ended last week, raised the prospect of the Windies playing a Test at the iconic Kensington Oval, Barbados.

“When you have an iconic player who will go down in history of our game, in Hayley Mathews (Barbados), it seems right she will have the opportunity to wear a maroon Test cap and lead her team out, hopefully at her home ground of the Kensington Oval at some point in a Test,” Graves told the Stumped podcast.

“Our philosophy has been that red-ball cricket is where you can build your technique, hone your defence and look to score all around the wicket. If that is what we believe for the men, then it has to be the case for the women,” he added. (Sportsmax)