Tigresses to get Test status

Bangladesh women's cricket team are to be awarded Test status, decided an ICC meeting on Thursday. The meeting decided that Test and ODI status would be permanently awarded to all Full Member women's teams.

That means Bangladesh, along with Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, are to be granted Test status.

Australia, England, Ireland, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies are the 10 women's teams that have played Test cricket so far.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) women's wing chairman Shafiul Alam Nadel said the women's team may play their inaugural Test as early as this year.

"The decision to grant Test status to Bangladesh women's team has been taken although the official procedure is not yet complete. If the Covid-19 situation is under control, there is hope of playing Test cricket this year," Nadel told The Daily Star yesterday.

"We are very excited to have gotten the Test status. And I hope that this will help our women's cricket go a long way," Salma Khatun, Bangladesh's T20 skipper, said in a video message after learning about ICC's decision.