​A Test for the future: Why England vs India Women at Lord’s was more than just a historic first originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.India’s Women made history at Lord’s this week, securing a mammoth win by 270 runs over England. However, beyond the result itself it was a Test match that potentially reveals a greater question off the field. Mainly, why the game took so long to actually occur in the first place?Despite Lord’s being known as the “Home of Cricket”, this was shockingly the first time the venue had hosted a women’s Test match.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWomen’s Test cricket in itself is not a new format, as the inaugural Test was played way back in 1934 between England and Australia. Why, then, did we have to wait so long to bring a women’s Test match ‘home’?MORE:All the latest women’s cricket from The Cricket NewsThe answer is a little more complex than some of the headlines and the debate on social media might initially suggest.It isn’t that women weren’t playing at the ground, because England Women first played at Lord’s in 1976. Since then, the venue has also hosted Women’s World Cup finals, ODI games, The Hundred tournaments, and some of the largest crowds in the history of women’s Cricket. To that end, women have been part of the Lord’s legacy for more than half a century.So what’s the catch? Why not Test matches? The answer lies in the format itself.While Test matches have long been the most elite form of international cricket for men, women’s cricket has developed in a completely opposite direction. And the numbers are proof of this — since the advent of Test matches in 1877, men’s cricket has had over 2,500 Tests played worldwide. Women’s cricket has produced just over 150 Tests in 92 years.To put things into perspective, there have been more than 1400 women’s ODIs, and more than 2000 T20Is. Those are the formats that have become an integral part of women’s cricket in modern times.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTest matches aren’t a regular occurrence for many female international cricketers, to the extent that some of them can go their entire careers without a single Test series feature.Why? Well, as women’s cricket began to gain popularity, the respective cricketing boards had to start making decisions regarding resource allocation. And, with limited resources, they had to prioritise formats that were more commercially viable, easier to broadcast, and had a higher audience retention capacity.That led to a focus on One Day Internationals during the latter half of the 20th Century, before the rise of T20 cricket shifted the entire landscape of the sport, for both women and the men.RCB WPL FinalFranchise cricket began picking up, with the likes of the Women’s Big Bash League and the WPL expanding cricket audiences further and developing way more opportunities for players and organisations alike.However, sacrifice