Women’s Ashes: Great to tick off the dream; team comes before personal milestones, says Tammy Beaumont

Nottingham:  After scoring a magnificent maiden Test century in the ongoing Women’s Ashes Test against Australia, England opener Tammy Beaumont said she was pleased to tick off a dream she had seen as a kid and added that contributing to the team comes first for her before personal milestones.

Beaumont became just the second England woman to hit a hundred in all three formats of the international game after current skipper Heather Knight by striking 16 boundaries to hit an unbeaten ton, taking England to 218/2 in 53 overs, trailing Australia by 255 runs at the end of day two’s play.

“Heather said to me when I came into the changing room ‘welcome to the club’ – I didn’t realise she meant the all three formats one, I thought she just meant an Ashes hundred.”

“If we go on to win this Test match then it would be right up there. It’s great to tick it off and as a kid, I dreamt of scoring an Ashes Test hundred. But as I’ve gone on, it’s contributing to the team.”

“It’s always good to look back at personal milestones and nice to tick that one off – something that I thought probably might evade me as I’m coming to the later half of my career,” said Tammy to Sky Sports at the end of day two’s play.

Tammy was also given a massive lifeline on 61 when an edge to short leg off Alana King went undetected and wasn’t reviewed. “There were probably moments where I thought I wasn’t going to face enough balls to get there but it put the team in a good position.”

“If you apply yourself as a batter there’s definitely runs out there to be had and so far our batters have pretty much looked at ease.”

Former England captain Charlotte Edwards remarked that Tammy is a type of player who lives for games like this and steps up to do the job for the team.

“I thought she played spin really well, she was proactive, she sweeps really well and that was something we did not see from the Australian players. A hundred off 154 balls is a great knock, she has come off two hundreds in the warmup games, so she was in really good form.”

“And I am really chuffed for her in front of her home crowd at Trent Bridge. These are the games that she lives for, a big game against Australia, and she’s really stepping up. The team really needed this. England are in a decent position.”

Charlotte also feels Tammy’s hundred came on the back of her trying to prove her strokeplay, especially after being dropped from England’s squad for this year’s T20 World Cup in South Africa.

“I have, and that’s when she’s at her most dangerous, when she’s trying to prove a point and that’s what I love about her. She’ll want to play T20 cricket, and so she should, and she’ll want to show the England coaches that they should have picked her in that T20 World Cup. It’s good for English cricket, it’s good for the team that it’s highly competitive for places.”

–IANS