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In the face of the proliferation of T20 franchises and
the desire of a few top-ranked countries to play additional Test matches, Tammy
Beaumont has made a passionate case for the continuation of the ODI format as
the foundation of women’s cricket.
Speaking just two weeks after the men’s 50-over World
Cup concluded, sparking controversy about whether the format was headed for
extinction, Beaumont stressed the importance of the women’s game supporting all
three forms of the international game. This was on the eve of England’s
three-match T20I series and four-day Test against India in Mumbai.
“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 game’s 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.”