Analysis by BBC cricket correspondent Stefan Shimelt
In 2013, the Women’s World Cup wasn’t just an afterthought. It is played only in Mumbai, often on small grounds.
At an England match, one woman, in a group of roving fans, explained that she was Tammy Beaumont’s mother. Beaumont, then just 21, did not play a single game in England’s disappointing season.
Her international career was in danger of slowing down.
Four years later, women’s cricket was a huge success and Beaumont was at the forefront.
Having breathed life into her batting with the arrival of Mark Robinson as England coach, Beaumont was the star of the 2017 World Cup. What greater honor could there be than being named Player of the Tournament after winning a World Cup on home soil?
Beaumont would go on to become one of England women’s cricket’s greatest players, not only for her runs, but also for her longevity as the game moved into the professional era.
One of only a handful of players, man or woman, to have made centuries in all three formats for England, another career high will come with a double hundred in a home Ashes Test in 2023.
The writing may have been on the wall when Beaumont was left out of the one-day squad earlier this summer, but she will be given a fitting send-off in the first women’s Test at Lord’s. Don’t rule out one big result from another.
