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Tammy Beaumont has hailed the wide-spread contributions behind Kent’s Women’s County Championship title triumph.
The Horses were crowned champions with a game to spare last week thanks to back-to-back away victories over Yorkshire and Lancashire.
It marks Kent’s eighth title win and their first since 2016, with the side’s blend of youth and international experience proving a positive sign for the future of the women’s game.
Beaumont said: “I’m really proud, I think it was a real team effort this year to win that title. Some of the younger players and less experienced players certainly stepped up at the right time so we’re really happy to win it with a game to spare.”
Such has been the share of runs across the team that skipper Beaumont finished on 243 and a high score of 87 across six innings, while teammate Fran Wilson registered 257 and a high of 83 from five innings.
The likes of Maxine Blythin (165), Laura Marsh (122) and Alice Davidson-Richards (105) have also all chipped in at vital times.
Megan Belt led the bowling effort with 12 wickets, followed by nine wickets apiece for Tash Farrant and Marsh, as well as seven each for Davidson-Richards and Chelsey Rowson.
Beaumont added: “That was something that we tried to build up over the winter, that everybody was going to have to contribute at some point.
“It’s great to see the likes of Chelsey Rowson hit the winning runs against Hampshire, Megan Belt proving really valuable with the ball again and Maxine Blythin scoring some really important fifties.
“It’s really exciting to see those players take their chance, and obviously you have the likes of Fran Wilson as well who moved from Middlesex and had a really good season.”
The season also saw teenager Grace Scrivens make her one-day debut against Surrey, offering a valuable knock to help chase down 148.
“I think she’s 15 so it’s even more of an achievement,” Beaumont said. “She got a good little 26 in the chase against Surrey so it’s been great to see her come into the team. We’ve got quite a lot of youngsters coming into the team and it’s great to see that.”
Kent’s unbeaten run came to an end on Sunday as they suffered a 160-run defeat to Sussex in their final county championship match of the season, without Beaumont and her fellow England internationals who were absent ahead of the ODI series against the West Indies.
Kent will now gear up for the women’s T20 campaign, which gets under way with a trip to Nottinghamshire on Sunday.
“It will be tough, we’ll be missing a few players but we’ve had everybody contribute so hopefully we can continue that in the T20s,” said Beaumont.
Read more: Kent women's trio named in England squad to face West Indies