India-Australia women's series needs perpetual trophy like men's Border-Gavaskar: Mel Jones
Mel Jones believes the rivalry between India and Australia in women's cricket needs to be celebrated with a perpetual trophy named after legends of the women's game akin to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the men's teams.
The Indian women's team will tour Australia later this year to play a historic pink-ball Test match. Last year, the two teams contested the ICC Women's T20 World Cup final in front of a packed stadium in Melbourne.
Mel Jones, who played five Tests and 61 ODIs for Australia Women between 1997 and 2003, said the 45-year history of women's cricket between the countries should be honored with a trophy, the name of which could be decided after taking inputs from fans on social media.
"It's great to have something like Border-Gavaskar, but that's the men's lens of what's happened in the past. So we should do it our way for the women's game, and maybe can come up with something a little bit different," Jones told cricket.com.au.
The two teams first faced off in an international Test at the WACA in 1977. Australia were captained by Marg Jennings, while Shantha Rangaswamy led the Indian side.
"To talk about Shantha Rangaswamy and Margaret Jennings and all those players from that first Test in Perth, to get those to the forefront again would be wonderful," Mel Jones added.
India Women and Australia Women are the only teams to have won three consecutive Test matches
The Indian women's team has played 36 Tests till date, recording 20 wins, six defeats and 10 draws, while Australia have registered 20 wins, 10 defeats and 44 draws in their 74 Test matches.
In the history of women's Test cricket, India and Australia are the only two nations to have recorded a hat-trick of victories.