Vindicated England Women’s captain Heather Knight has heartily hailed the announcement of her side’s five-day Ashes Test match with Australia at Trent Bridge next year.

In a summer that will feature both men’s and women’s Ashes series, Knight’s side will host the touring Australians in Nottingham from 22 – 26 June.

It will be the first ever five-day women’s Test to be held in England, and the choice of venue has come in for enthusiastic praise from the Three Lions skipper.

“Hopefully being at a massive ground like Trent Bridge will attract loads of people and it could be a really lovely occasion,” she said.

“We want to do everything we can to move [women’s cricket] forward, to take more risks, to make it exciting to watch, and it feels like the right time, for five days and for bigger grounds.”

Although England Women have played Test matches in both 2021 and 2022, against India and South Africa, respectively, those matches were scheduled for only four days and both fizzled out into weather-affected draws.

The announcement of a five-day Test, therefore, is a source of great glee for Knight, who takes particular pleasure in seeing it as an example of the strides forward made by the women’s game in recent years.

“I’m so happy. I feel like I’ve been banging the drum for five days for a long time, so it’s a special moment. It's been a long time coming,” she said.

“Last year’s South Africa Test was set up nicely but withered out because of rain and it wasn’t given the chance to finish, so this is a really good step by the boards.”

The 31-year-old Knight has represented England for the past 12 years, but next year’s clash with Australia will be just her 11th appearance in the longest format.

She has witnessed at first-hand the development of women’s cricket over the past decade, and, on remembering the state of the game when she first started out, is delighted by the rude health it finds itself in currently.

“I probably spent most of my career being grateful for what I was given,” Knight admitted.

“When I started out, anything was a bonus. You were just happy to be playing the sport you love for England and not even getting paid, but my eyes have opened a bit more.

“You see the inequalities you’ve gone through, which you hadn't really realised at the time. Moving forward on an equal footing is a logical progression.”

Knight has been comprehensively backed by her former male counterpart, Joe Root, who captained England Men in 64 Tests before stepping aside for current incumbent Ben Stokes in April of this year.

Both England sides will aim to regain their respective urns in 2023, with Knight leading her squad at the same time as Stokes takes his side into battle.

In addition to Knight, Root has also thrown his weight in support of the move to a five-day women’s Test match, noting that both England sides should benefit from exactly the same playing conditions.

“It can be frustrating when a draw becomes the only option, so it’s sensible to try and get a result over five days and I don’t see why it should be any different from men’s cricket,” said Root.

“It’s a really important step for the women’s game. You want as many people as possible to be able to watch, and we saw in The Hundred that when the games are played at major venues, a lot of people are there to support.”

Trent Bridge saw back-to-back five-figure crowds for two Trent Rockets women’s games in The Hundred, and the excitement for a mouth-watering week of women's international cricket is already building.

“Both teams want the Ashes back. With both series on at the same time there’ll hopefully be an Ashes buzz that both teams can tap into and benefit from,” smiled Root.

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Trent Bridge will host three international matches in 2023, with the sole Test Match of the Women’s Ashes taking place at Nottinghamshire’s historic home, before England’s men face New Zealand and Ireland in IT20 and ODI contests respectively. 

Enter the ticketing ballot or peruse further information at trentbridge.co.uk/internationals.