ENGLAND captain Heather Knight felt her side were “almost robbed” of a thrilling finish against India because their one-off Test match was only four days, with the two nations playing out a draw at Bristol.

A tremendous 104-run partnership for the ninth wicket between Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia scuppered England’s chances of a first Test victory on home soil since 2005, with the hosts unable to break through and start a run chase on the final day.

The game was brought to a close with 12 overs left as the players shook hands for the draw, with India on 344 for eight in their second innings and leading by 179 runs.

“I’d definitely be open to [a five-day women’s Test match],” Knight said after the close of play.

“I think there’s been a lot of draws in women’s Test cricket in previous games, so it’s definitely something that I think it should be looked at. Obviously we lost a little bit of time to the weather etc and weren’t able to force it.

“I think generally over rates are pretty good in women’s cricket and obviously we didn’t quite get all the overs in that we should have done in this match, but I think if there was another day, what a finish that would have been.

“We were almost robbed of that finish because there wasn’t an extra day and we didn’t have the time in the game.”

Despite taking four wickets for just 18 runs in the middle of the day as India slumped to 243 for eight at tea, England’s hopes were crushed by the brilliant unbroken stand between Rana and Bhatia.

Rana scored just two runs in the first innings but crucially found her form in the second, top-scoring with 80 from 154 balls, while Bhatia finished unbeaten on 44.