• Windies to play red-ball cricket after 20 yrs.

Sri Lanka women’s cricket team has still not made the cut to feature in Tests according to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ashley de Silva.

He made this comment when The Daily Morning Sports sought his views as to why Sri Lanka has still not featured in the red-ball version of the game, in comparison to their exploits in the short formats.

“To date we (Sri Lanka) are not yet up to scratch to feature in Tests in women’s cricket,” de Silva explained.

“At this moment we are yet to take that leap to play Test matches, and that is the reason why we are only plying the trade in the white-ball formats.”

However, de Silva was quick to point out that not only Sri Lanka, but Pakistan and Bangladesh have also faced a similar plight among other sub-continent teams.

Pakistan in fact have not played a single Test since playing a one-off Test match against the West Indies women in Karachi which had fizzled into a draw in the 2003-04 season, while Bangladesh are yet to make their red-ball cricket debut.

He noted that only India, England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand were the exceptions to the rule, having made the grade as it were to regularly feature in the five-day format.

The SLC CEO however expressed his optimism that the game’s local governing body would do its utmost to squeeze in at least a one-off Test against one of the leading Test nations in another couple of years.

But, he asserted that as of now that dream is far from materialising for Chamari Athapaththu’s team.

The Future Tours Programme (FTP) formulated by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for women’s cricket for the 2025-29 period has also ensured that Sri Lanka will not feature in any Tests for the foreseeable future.

According to cricket analysts, it is a grim reminder of the serious imbalance of the allocation of matches in the women’s game, as other than Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand, the rest including the West Indies, are scheduled to feature in the red-ball format.

What is strange though is that in the 2025-29 cycle, West Indies is set to return to the format after more than 20 years in the wilderness, when they host Australia as part of a multi-format series in March 2026.

Sri Lanka however will continue to be in limbo nearing three decades in the established format, while being forced to strut their stuff in One-Day Internationals and T20Is.

In fact, Sri Lanka to date has played only a solitary Test against Pakistan in the 1997-98 season, when a team led by Rasanjali Chandima Silva thumped the tourists by 309-runs at Colts Grounds, Colombo.

Since then Sri Lanka have plied their trade in white-ball cricket and the ICC FTP schedule for the next four-year period has ensured that Sri Lanka’s scarcity of Tests will last with no end in sight to the barren run.

This is in stark contrast to the allocation of ODIs and T20Is for Sri Lanka, who are also in line to host the first-ever ICC T20 Women’s Champions Trophy in June-July 2027, which is part of the global body’s strategic plan to have at least one women’s world tournament annually.

The Sri Lanka women’s cricket team which finished fifth in the standings at the conclusion of the preliminary phase of the ongoing ICC 50-over World Cup, is set to undertake a bilateral tour of the West Indies next year, the Future Tours Programme (FTP) shows.

Chamari Athapaththu’s side is slated to visit the Caribbean for three One-Day Internationals and a similar number of T20Is in February 2026.

Following that series, the Lankan women are then scheduled to tour Bangladesh for another white-ball series in April next year, after which the Lankans will turn their focus to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup to be held in England in June-July.

According to the list of FTP events for 2025-29, Sri Lanka is then due to host Pakistan for a white-ball series in July-August, while that tour will then pave the way for a bilateral ODI series between Sri Lanka and Australia late next year. 

A combination of seasonal monsoon rains, out of form batswomen and sloppy ground fielding stalled Sri Lanka’s bid for a top four finish in the ongoing 50-over World Cup, though they still managed to pocket $ 700,000 in prize money for ending fifth in the standings.

The wrath of the weather gods fell on the Lankan women like never before, as three of their four Colombo ties were rained off, denying them the opportunity to scale high on the points table.

Eventually their points materialised through one victory and three rain-marred no-results, with their sole triumph coming against Bangladesh with the former snatching victory from the jaws of defeat on that occasion.