ENGLAND captain Heather Knight has stressed the importance of keeping the Test format alive in the women’s game.

Test cricket remains a peripheral part of the landscape in women’s cricket, with just eight such fixtures worldwide in the past decade and six of those being Ashes contests.

England are set to kick off a busy summer schedule with their first Test match against India since 2014, when the tourists triumphed by six wickets at Wormsley.

The June 16 clash  is the first of 15 matches for Lisa Keightley’s side, with India staying on for six white-ball games before New Zealand arrive for three Twenty20s and five one-day internationals.

Despite the prevalence of limited-overs, Knight admits that there is something special about donning the whites.

“I love playing Test cricket. One of my proudest moments in an England shirt is scoring a Test century,” she said.

“It’s really important that we keep Test cricket going in the women’s game. Realistically, T20 is what’s going to grow women’s cricket around the world and we’ve seen that over the last five years, but I’d love to keep playing Test cricket and to see the multi-format series that we do for the Ashes as the norm going forward.

“I’d also love to play a Test match in India, which I think it would be a massive challenge.”

Knight, for whom the fixture is almost a home-town date, added that the Test announcement had already generated a buzz around the squad.

“There’s definitely been loads of chat about the Test match here at Loughborough,” she said. “We’re a week back in training after a bit of a break and all the girls are trying to get their heads around how they’re going to prepare for that Test match.”

“Because you only have one, you feel like you desperately want to perform in that match – you know the next one’s not going to come around for a while. It’s going to be a really big occasion and, coming from the south-west, I’m really chuffed that it’s going to be down at Bristol as well. Hopefully, we can put on a show and make it a really good game of cricket.”

Knight was sanguine about the absence of the country’s biggest stadiums from the schedule, suggesting that a regular slot at venues such as Lord’s was a longer-term goal.

“I think it’s something that’s an ambition and should be worked towards,” she said.

“We haven’t played at those bigger venues internationally, apart from World Cup finals, for a long time. Places like Taunton or Bristol, where people really come and support us, work really well for women’s cricket and Chelmsford has been amazing. Being realistic about trying to sell out the smaller venues consistently should be a target first.”