Watch live coverage from all four days of the Women's Test match between England and India, live on Sky Sports Cricket from Wednesday; Click on the video below to watch the most memorable moments from Sky Sports' 25 years covering women's cricket
Wednesday 16 June 2021 11:20, UK
Sky Sports celebrates 25 years of covering women's cricket in 2021 by showing more live games than it ever has before, starting with the Test match between England and India on Wednesday.
Sky Sports is committed to showing 52 live women's cricket games this year, which is more than double the amount of the previous high mark of 24 set in 2019.
Click on the video above to watch some of the most memorable moments from Sky Sports' 25 years of covering women's cricket and read on below...
The first time Sky showed women's cricket was on June 16, 1996, when England played New Zealand at Leicester in the second one-day international of their series. Debbie Hockley scored 75 which led New Zealand to a 56-run victory, with Charlotte Edwards' international debut still a month away. Edwards would go on to earn 309 caps across all formats.
Two years later, it was the first Ashes clash as England faced Australia at Derby. Australia ran out winners on that occasion by 64 runs, with future commentator Mel Jones scoring 58.
The highlight of the 1999 season saw Clare Connor - future director of women's cricket at the ECB - take a hat-trick in the ODI against India.
The first-ever T20 international match - men's or women's - took place at Hove in 2004 between England and New Zealand. It was a close finish, with the tourists emerging victorious by nine runs. And three years later, the Sky cameras were there to see New Zealand's Amy Satterthwaite record a world-record-at-the-time bowling analysis of 6-17 in the T20I at Taunton.
In 2009, the year started with England winning the Women's World Cup in Australia, defeating the hosts by four wickets in the final to win their first world title for 16 years.
England continued their dominance that summer, memorably defeating Australia in the semi-finals of the Women's World T20 at The Oval thanks to a Claire Taylor-inspired run-chase. Two days later, they defeated New Zealand in the final at Lord's to complete the 'double' of world titles.
In 2013, Sarah Taylor pulled off one of the greatest catches ever seen on Sky Sports to dismiss Jodie Fields at Hove, and a few days later the Women's Ashes were regained with victory in the second T20I at Southampton.
Australia claimed back-to-back Women's World T20 final wins over England in 2012 and 2014. Then, in 2015, with the entire Women's Ashes series shown live for the first time, Australia won the Test match by 161 runs and regained the Ashes two weeks later by winning the second T20I at Hove.
2017 was a most memorable year for women's cricket on Sky. England beat Australia in their group match in the Women's World Cup at Bristol by three runs, and went on to win the World Cup final, beating India by nine runs in a thriller in front of a sell-out crowd Lord's. Later that summer, the Kia Super League Finals Day was broadcast live on Sky for the first time.
It was another England vs Australia final in the Women's World T20 in 2018, and again it was Australia who won it - this time by eight wickets.
2019 saw another Women's Ashes series shown live on Sky Sports. The Test match ended in a draw, while Australia's Ellyse Perry lit up the ODI series with figures of 7-22 at Canterbury, and Meg Lanning's 133 not out at Chelmsford was the highlight of the T20Is.
In 2020, on March 8, Australia won their fifth Women's World T20 trophy by beating India in front of a record 86.174 crown at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Then, that summer, the Southern Vipers won the inaugural Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, while England defeated the West Indies 5-0 in a T20I series - all live on Sky Sports.
Watch live coverage from all four days of the Women's Test match between England and India, live on Sky Sports Cricket from Wednesday, 10.30am.
