England v India: Why are there so few women's Tests and how do the players prepare?

India won their last Test match against England by six wickets in 2014 - but the two sides have not met since

Test cricket is considered the pinnacle of the game - so why do women play so few?

England are one of the lucky sides, so to speak. They usually play one Test every two years, against Australia as part of the Women's Ashes.

Beginning on Wednesday, they will host a Test against India. The two sides have not met in the format since 2014, when India won by six wickets, and India have played just one Test since then.

The interest is there. The 2014 Test at Wormsley was watched by a large crowd, while the 16,000-capacity North Sydney Oval was 80% full for the day-night Ashes Test in 2017.

So why are there so few women's Tests? Do players not want to play them? And how do you go about preparing for a one-off match?

Do players want to play?

Since 2007, only four countries have played Test cricket, with England and Australia the only ones to play with any regularity.

West Indies have not played one since 2004, while Sri Lanka's sole Test came against Pakistan in 1998.

All-rounder Katherine Brunt is one of England's most experienced Test cricketers but even she has only played 12 matches over 15 years.

"We've all grown up playing cricket, watching all three formats, and it feels a bit weird and wrong that we, as women, don't play that format of the game," she told BBC Sport.

"They can correct me if I'm wrong but I think most players would want to play more."

India's series against England will follow the points-based Ashes format, with a one-off Test followed by three one-day internationals and three Twenty20s.

India will again follow this format when they tour Australia later in the year but it is not widely used. International tours largely consist of limited-overs cricket, allowing players to prepare for the two white-ball World Cups in a format that gains the biggest crowd and television viewers.

England coach Lisa Keightley remembers her nine Tests for Australia fondly - although she says it was "a hell of a long time ago" - but believes limited-overs is still the best way to grow the game.

"If you think of developing nations like Thailand, they did so well in the T20 World Cup," she said.

"Their first introduction is T20, then you'd want them to go into ODI cricket. I think it's unrealistic we're going to get countries like that playing Tests."

What are the issues?

One of the downsides to the points system is that the Test carries so much weighting. Players know that if they lose, it is difficult to get back into the series. That can lead to overcautious tactics and, at times, boring cricket.

But Brunt points to the Ashes Test at the Waca in 2014, when England pulled off a thrilling 61-run win on a pacey pitch, as an example of what can be achieved.

"We don't play five-day cricket, we play four. And if you want to get 40 wickets in four days, it's really hard," she explained.

"The last couple of Test matches we've played have been so unentertaining, I imagine, not only for the people watching, but for us.

"It's gruelling. There shouldn't ever be a surface that you can bowl a ball on and it does absolutely nothing, not ever."

The Ashes Test in 2013 is mostly remembered - especially by those who were there - for Laura Marsh's painstaking 55 from 304 balls, while the 2015 Ashes match was described as "excruciating" by one correspondent.

But pitches aside, if the players aren't involved in regular red-ball cricket, either at domestic or international level, how will they develop the skills and tactics that make Test cricket so absorbing?

As Keightley points out, any male player would struggle to perfect the technical and mental side of the game if they only played once every two years.

"We are asking the girls to play four 50-over games in a row, essentially. It's really taxing on the body and on the mind," she said.

"That's the challenge when you don't play that format; it's a challenge of the unknown.

"One, you don't know how you're going to go and two, are you fit enough to cope? Do you have the mental resilience to be strong in mind and have the concentration when you need it?"

How do players prepare?

With eight ODIs and six T20s to prepare for this summer, working on Test-match tactics is difficult.

Brunt has had a long international career - she dismissed her now coach Keightley in the Australian's last Test in 2005 - and knows her body well. Even so, she describes four-day cricket as a "shock to the system".

"Your body is like, what the hell are you doing to me?" she says.

"I'm not a spring chicken so I have to think about every single day and be really mindful of what it is I'm doing, what is coming up, and what I can do in between.

"I generally avoid back-to-back days and try and get on feet, off feet. I do my sessions on the bike which is always a pain in the backside - quite literally. You have just got to be smart."

Keightley has been running red-ball and white-ball sessions with her players and expects to see England pushing for victory against India.

"To build the girls up in their loads, we have to prep them for that so they don't break down," she added.

"But what I can say is that we will be looking to win a Test match and then as the days play out, we will see if we can get a win."

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