Beaumont: If only four nations are playing Test cricket in women’s cricket, then we have to protect 50-over cricket at all costs
Amidst the growth of T20 franchises and a drive by a few top-ranked nations to play more Tests, Tammy Beaumont has made a passionate case to keep the ODI format as the cornerstone of women’s cricket.
Amidst the growth of T20 franchises and a drive by a few top-ranked nations to play more Tests, Tammy Beaumont has made a passionate case to keep the ODI format as the cornerstone of women’s cricket.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo on the eve of England’s three-match T20I series and four-day Test against India in Mumbai, as well as just two weeks after the men’s 50-over World Cup ended and sparked discussion about whether the format was in danger of dying out, Beaumont stated that the women’s game must support all three formats of the international game.
“The more the game goes on, I think the more it’ll diversify and there’s more talent in every country, so now you can almost field very different teams depending on the format,”
Beaumont told the Ladies Who Switch podcast on Tuesday.
“I just hope that other formats outside of T20 aren’t left behind because that’s a real issue that has happened in the men’s game.
“One of the few good things about the women’s game, being quite a long way behind the men’s game still, is that we can learn from the mistakes of the men’s game. The WPL and all the franchise leagues, and the investment, and the amount of money that has come into the women’s game are absolutely amazing and some might say overdue, but also I think we need to protect where the games come from.
“We see the men’s game talking about 50-over cricket: ‘Is it even worth doing?’ Well, if only four nations are playing Test cricket in women’s cricket, then we have to protect 50-over cricket at all costs.
“I think everyone would love to have loads of Test-playing nations and play big Test series but, at the moment, that’s not a reality. At the same time, if you’re just a Test match player and you play two Tests a year, you’re not playing much cricket. Hopefully, we can keep and protect all formats of cricket and not just jump on the wave of T20 and leave everything else behind.”
Beaumont has not participated in a Twenty20 international match in almost two years, since losing her spot after the 2022 Women’s Ashes in Australia due to then-head coach Lisa Keightley’s preference for a younger team ahead of England’s unsuccessful home campaign at the Commonwealth Games later that year.
Even though Beaumont’s T20I career is still open, current head coach Jon Lewis has said that she is not part of that squad in India. Beaumont set the record for the highest score in the competition this year, a 61-ball 118, and went on to become the second-highest run-scorer in the Women’s competition this season.
“If we’re going to say teams want to play Test matches, we want to push it in the women’s game, but realistically at the moment, the money-maker is T20 and T20 franchise cricket in particular. You can’t go from T20 cricket to Test match cricket, it’s so different,” she added.
“The only thing that is a bridge between the two is 50-over cricket.
“England, Australia, India can afford to put on Test matches, that maybe people aren’t coming to yet, and invest in the marketing and put an event on for four or five days. Other cricket boards can’t afford that. A 50-over game they can do, they can invest in it and see the game grow, and then, when they might be ready to take on Test cricket, players know how to potentially build an innings.
“Not an innings over six hours, over two days or whatever, but a longer innings, whereas T20 is only going to go one way, where you’ve got to go at a strike-rate of 150-plus from the off. There’s definitely room for all three and the Hundred in my opinion… but we’ve got to work with all three formats at the moment across the globe and protect all of them.”
Beaumont acknowledges that the most difficult task of her commentary career has been covering women’s international cricket. This was evident during England’s 2-1 T20I home series loss to Sri Lanka, following their victories over Australia in both white-ball Ashes legs. Then, the inevitable discussion over whether she should return to the T20I team began.
“It’s probably the most difficult thing, but I think it’s about having quite clear principles in what I want to be as a commentator,”
she said.
“Sharing a dressing room with the players, my key principle is if I wouldn’t go and say it to their face, I don’t say it on air because, at the end of the day, their parents are watching, their family’s watching at home, friends. Anything you do say, if it’s overly critical or overly harsh and you wouldn’t say it to their face, they’re going to find out.
“I’ve said to the girls, if I do say something on air that you don’t agree with, just come and talk to me because I would never want that to jeopardize anything at all. But at the same time, I am outside the T20 squad. It only takes an absolute gun-opening batter to come along and I’d probably be out of the ODI side squad as well at some point. So I’ve got to think about the future.”
She is stuck on 99 T20I caps, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have aspirations to return to the shortest format at the international level.
“That’s up to the selectors,”
she said.
“They’ve got a good idea of what their World Cup team might look like and you’ve just got to keep putting your hand up and churn out runs and put in match-winning performances.
“At the same time, you can’t control everything. There are so many good T20 players in England now, particularly opening the batting. Everyone’s putting their hand up to try and have a go in the power play. If I got an opportunity it would be amazing but at the same time, just keep going.”