By Joshua Richards
KENT opener Tammy Beaumont has called on her side to complete a dream week by securing their third major trophy on Sunday, following their Royal London One-Day Cup and Women‘s Championship double.
Led by England skipper Charlotte Edwards (56), Kent crushed Surrey by seven wickets at Reed’s School last weekend after Erin Bermingham (4-16) had earlier done damage with the ball in the Championship decider, which doubled as the One-Day Cup final.
Now Kent turn their attention to the t20 finals tournament at the RAF Sports Ground in Uxbridge where they take on fellow regional group winners Middlesex and Nottinghamshire in a mini-league format.
And Dover-born Beaumont feels that her home county are more than capable of retaining the trophy to complete the treble.
“We’ve beaten good sides already this year and got a good t20 pedigree so I don’t see any reason why we can’t win the trophy again,” said Beaumont, who has appeared in 33 t20 internationals for England.
“In the top order we’ve got Charlotte Edwards, Lydia Greenway and me.
“Then Laura Marsh is a good t20 player, so if we can get good scores on the board we’re confident of taking the wickets.
“Middlesex gave us our closest game in a 50-over match this season, but we got on top in the end and we played Notts recently, too, and won by nine wickets, so we can be confident, even in a different format.
“If someone had told me how my season would have gone I’d have shaken their hands and said, thank you. I’ve had some great starts with Charlotte Edwards. It’s been unbelievable and great to get runs for Kent.”
Beaumont (29) and Edwards were at their ruthless best in Sunday’s clash with Surrey, forming a quickfire 76-run partnership at the top of the order as their chase towards 111 became a procession.
Surrey captain Cecily Scutt had won the toss and elected to bat, but they were soon struggling on 5-2 as Charlotte Pape (2-22) removed Hannah Jones and Natalie Sciver for ducks in successive balls.
Opener Kirstie White (29) and Sophie Pout (23) briefly restored some order, before their 50-partnership was broken when Pout fell leg before to Bermingham.
Wickets then tumbled with alarming regularity as only Bryony Smith (10) reached double figures, before becoming Bermingham’s fourth victim. Katherine Robson’s run out for three ended Surrey’s innings at 110, 11-and-a-half overs short of their allotted 50.
And head coach Stuart Eddicott’s Kent took fewer than 20 overs to knock off the required runs. Greenway added 16 after the opening partnership had been broken, before Grace Gibbs (2no) and Bermingham (4no) saw Kent home with ease.
“It was fairly comfortable in the end,” added Beaumont. “The bowlers were brilliant. We got their top batters out early on in the game and 110 didn’t reflect the quality of the pitch.
“We’ve been ruthless. We score a lot of runs at the top of the order and bag plenty of wickets to back that up.
“Our England players set the standards high and the younger ones follow their lead superbly.”
*This article first appeared in The Cricket Paper on Friday, August 1
