Explained: Why Doesn't ICC Have Women's Test Rankings?

Over the years, women's cricket has evolved a lot across the formats. Recently, the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 was concluded, and now the focus has shifted from the shortest format to the longest format of the game. England Women and India Women are about to play a Women's test match at Lord's Cricket Ground, London, and this fixture is not any other women's test match but it is historic one, as this match will be the very first Women's test Match to be played at iconic Lord's after 150 Tests played at the venue.

However, we may rank the women's team based on the experience of the players in the team and not the ICC Women's Test rankings, which often creates a question among cricket fans: why no Women's Test rankings. Let's find out the answer to this.

Why Doesn't ICC Have Women's Test Rankings?

The ICC has officially authorised and regulated women's Test cricket, but there are no ICC Women's Test rankings. The reason why doesn't ICC have women's Test rankings is the lower number of women's Test matches scheduled among the teams. Women's Test matches are very rarely played, and this infrequency of matches creates irrelevant data for the ranking.

It is also observed that only the best women's cricket teams in the world, Australia Women, England Women and India Women, are the teams that often play this format, and no other women's team play more frequently. The ICC doesn't have enough data or competitive frequency to maintain an accurate rating system, although Women's ODIs and T20Is are officially ranked as they are played consistently.

Major Differences in Rules Between Men's Test and Women's Test

As we compare some of the rules of Women's Test Cricket with Men's Test Cricket, there are some major changes. The match length of men's test is 5 days, while in women's test it is usually 4 days; this makes the minimum daily overs vary between them as well, where 90 overs should be bowled in men's test, and in women's test there are 100 overs. The follow-on target is also different, where in men's test it is 200 runs and in women's test it is 150 runs.