Veteran England opener Tammy Beaumont calls for protecting the One Day International format in the women’s game.
The England women’s team led by skipper Heather Knight will be involved in a limited-overs series that includes a three-match T20I series followed by a three-match T20I series. It will be followed by a one-off, four-day Test match. The series commenced on 6th December 2023 and will conclude on 17th December 2023. All the matches of the T20I series will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The one-off Test match will be played at the DY Patil stadium.
The recently concluded ICC Men’s ODI World Cup in India, sparked the debate about the relevance of the One Day International format in the men’s game. Even though we witnessed some of the edge-of-the-seat contests throughout the tournament, few cricket experts were of the opinion that the format should be reduced to a 40 overs per side contest. One of the intent behind either reducing or discarding the ODI format was to increase the number of Test matches being played by every Test-playing nation.
“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.”
The veteran England opener Tammy Beaumont questions the debate about tinkering with the ODI format and the negative impact it can leave on the women’s game considering that only four nations are India, England, Australia, and South Africa playing the Test match format.
“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.”
Tammy Beaumont speaks about the importance of protecting all the formats of the game.
The women’s game is developing at a good rate, especially in terms of being competitive on the field. The inception of a few franchise leagues of the likes of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) in India, and The Hundred in England. The lower ranked teams have slowly, but eventually started to punch above their weights and display an admirable amount of competitiveness against the big teams, sending a clear message that they are ready to pounce on any kind of lapse from them be it tactical, strategical, or in terms of being competitive.
The Pakistan women’s team whitewashing South Africa in the T20I series in September earlier this year, followed by a historic, first-ever series win over the White Ferns in New Zealand are a classic example of the development of lower-ranked teams.
“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.” Tammy Beaumont speaks about the importance of learning from the mistakes that the men’s game has made and to try and not repeat them when it comes to the women’s game.
(Quotes sourced from ESPN Cricinfo).