India, July 14 -- As the Indian women's team completed a 270-run win over England in the first-ever women's Test to be played at Lord's, the feeling was that cricket had taken another step in the right direction. India's 22-year-old pacer Kranti Gaud became the first woman on the Test honours board at Lord's. She was joined shortly after by Yastika Bhatia, who became the first woman to score a Test century at Lord's.

India's win itself wasn't surprising. Harmanpreet Kaur leads a squad that has more experienced red-ball cricketers than most other teams. Indeed, apart from India, none of the other nations has a full-fledged red-ball competition. Most countries believe that the women's game is all about the white-ball format. With this win,...