Heather Knight exclusive: 'When you grow up, you see Test cricket as the pinnacle'

If the statistics reveal a story of the precarious state of women’s cricket, the words of the man in the sport’s most senior position provided a damning insight into the total lack of eagerness to do anything about them.

Just five women’s Test matches have taken place since 2015, and only once since 2007 has a team other than England, India and Australia competed in one.

Asked earlier this month about the future of the longest form of the women’s game, ICC chairman Greg Barclay painted a gloomy picture: “I can’t really see women’s Test or long-form cricket evolving at any speed at all… I don’t really see that as part of the landscape moving forward to any real extent.”

In a country that - historically, at least - prides Test cricket above all else, the response in England was damning. Head coach Lisa Keightley and veteran bowler Kate Cross both described Barclay’s comments as “disappointing”, while captain Heather Knight said they sent a “dangerous message”.

On Monday, Knight will lead her side out in a LV= Insurance Test at Taunton against South Africa, which will be the visitors’ first Test match since an innings defeat against India eight years ago.

If the authorities do not see the frequency of such games increasing, there must be a question over their purpose. Knight is unequivocal in her response.

“Some of the best memories I have as a player have been in Test whites,” she told the Telegraph. “Obviously we don’t play it very often so it’s quite sporadic in how we do it, but I’d certainly love to play more, as I know a lot of players do. When you grow up, you see Test cricket as the pinnacle.

“I think there’s a responsibility to keep it going. It’s increased in the past few years because boards have wanted to do it