Beaumont set to light the Welsh Fire in The Hundred
LIGHTNING BATTER AIMS TO BOUNCE BACK FROM HER SHOCK COMMONWEALTH GAMES OMISSION
TAMMY Beaumont is determined to bounce back from her Commonwealth Games disappointment by turning around the fortunes of Welsh Fire in The Hundred competition.
Beaumont, who opens the batting for Loughborough-based Lightning, was a shock omission from England’s T20 squad for Birmingham 2022.
England failed to live up to their billing in the Commonwealth Games and were heavily beaten by New Zealand in the bronze medal play-off.
Beaumont admits she was “gutted” to miss out on the Games – but is now looking forward to the challenge of captaining Welsh Fire, who begin their Hundred campaign against Birmingham Phoenix at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff tomorrow.
Having made the move from London Spirit, Beaumont is captaining the team that finished bottom of the women’s Hundred table last year.
But it is a pressure 31-year-old Beaumont is embracing.
“There’s probably not much expectation on us this year, which means we can just go about our business and play our own way,” she told BBC Sport.
“We’ve got about eight or nine new players so they don’t have that history.”
Captaincy is not completely new to Beaumont. She has led Kent women and Southern Vipers, but has played for several years under two of England’s most successful skippers in Charlotte Edwards and Heather Knight.
But it is something that excites her, and she felt she could not turn down the chance when it was offered by Welsh Fire.
“It gives me an opportunity to come in, make progress and build something quite special,” she said.
“As a captain I want to empower the players to get the best out of themselves.
“I’ve been a senior player for England for a while, and been involved in leadership groups.
“I’ve not necessarily thought about captaining England but it’s a skill I really want to develop during The Hundred.”
With the women’s competition starting later than the men’s this year due to the Commonwealth Games, Beaumont is confident the game can build on its groundbreaking start in 2021.
After a Covid-impacted first year, the players are able to have their families stay and several of the world’s best players from Australia are involved – including Annabel Sutherland, Nicola Carey and Rachael Haynes joining Beaumont at Welsh Fire.
“It is amazing for the young players to be able to learn from the best in the world,” said Beaumont.
“Particularly for me, from a leadership point of view, Rachael Haynes has so much experience as Australia’s vicecaptain.
“Unfortunately for us it does always seem to be the Aussies pioneering, but it’ll change eventually!”
Beaumont credits The Hundred, as well as the new regional professional contracts, for what it has done for young, up-and-coming players.
“The players of my era, we’d get into the England team from doing well at our county and actually, we might not hit the ground running,” she said.
“It would take a good few years of being in and out of the team and working on your game to get back in.
“But now Issy Wong, Alice Capsey, Freya Kemp – they’ve all played regional cricket and they’re straight in at international level and performing straight away.
“And that’s because they’re used to playing in things like
The Hundred, in front of big crowds and with the camera shoved in their face all the time.
“They know what to expect. There’s no such thing as an easy game, you have to earn it.” Beaumont is determined to force her way back into England’s Twenty20 squad, but for now she is focused on the job in front of her. “I’ve just got to go out there and show what I can do,” she said. “When it comes to playing for Welsh Fire it’ll just be about winning the game that’s in front of me – just in a different colour to usual.”