England Women Ashes diary – part two

The England team have settled in Sydney and with the Test match just over a week away opener Tammy Beaumont has logged the second instalment of our tour diaries.

So what have they been up to?

Back in it!

If we had lost the third ODI we would have been facing a massive uphill struggle to regain the Ashes.

We’d done a lot right across the first two games but we’d come up short against a team that played better on the day so it’s really satisfying to have got back in the series and to have put in a better performance.

Hopefully we’ve swung the momentum back a bit and we can take that into the Test match and the T20s.

Test matches are a tough one to gauge – obviously neither side plays very much Test cricket.

I think it will be all about who puts in a performance across four days, you know from men’s Test cricket that you can lose a game in a session so it’s quite exciting.

We can’t wait to pull on the whites.

Dodging the rain

We’ve actually had an awful lot of bad weather so if any Australian ever complains to me about British weather I’m going to remind them about how bad it’s been over here.

They have no right to complain about our rain anymore! We’ve probably had more days of rain than we have sun so we haven’t even been able to tan.

That said, it’s been amazing to be out here. It’s a great country and we’ve managed to get away and do the odd activity when we haven’t been training.

I’ve played a few nine-holes with Lauren Winfield and our team doctor has turned out to be a bit of a golf hustler!

We played a lovely course in Coffs Harbour – I only lost a few balls in the drink… honest.

Continuing on the sport theme, we also took in Australia v New Zealand in the rugby union when we were in Brisbane.

Somehow we managed to see an Australian victory, which was a shame because I was backing the All Blacks!

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TammyBeaumont

• AKA: Tambo
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• Age: 34
• Domestic Team: Kent, Loughborough Lightning, Welsh Fire
• Fun Fact:
• Tammy once came first in a national schools gymnastics competition
• Cricketing Legend:
• Justin Langer

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Test cricket dreamworld

As a kid it’s something I always dreamt of – playing in an Ashes Test match – so I can’t wait.

I used to tell everyone that I was going to play Test cricket when I was young so it was amazing to achieve it. I remember being more nervous about my Test debut than I was for my ODI debut, even though that was a few years before.

The fact we play less regularly makes it even more special.

We’re under no illusions about how difficult it may be, especially when you consider it’s a day-night Test with a pink ball under lights. We’ll just do everything we can to win each session and see how far we can get.

Sculptures and trivia

The weather seems to be a bit better in Sydney and myself, Heather Knight, Sophie Ecclestone and Danni Wyatt had a great day doing the coastal walk from Bondi Beach.

There’s loads of amazing sculptures and it was nice to get a bit of culture in – obviously you’ve got to do all the touristy sights as well and I couldn’t refuse the chance for a good selfie.

Another good high-culture evening was our team quiz. Dani Hazell does an amazing job as quizmaster on every tour and I really enjoyed it this time round.

I was dreading it beforehand because I normally end up on the losing team but this time – when the teams came through – I saw I was with a few of the staff members who love a pub quiz and I finally ended up on the winning side!

New faces

We’ve been joined by Kate Cross, who’s come to train with us and be around the team ahead of our three-day warm-up game, and Tash Farrant and Amy Jones will be arriving on the weekend.

They’re great characters and they’re obviously a big part of our group, despite not being in this 15.

It’s a massive morale boost for us to have them coming in and it will add to our training and preparation. 

Follow all of the team news and results in our dedicated England Women section.

England Ashes 2017 squad