England 320 for 8 (Beaumont 150*, Kemp 65) beat Ireland 45 (Cross 3-8, Filer 3-10) by 275 runs
Beaumont faced just 139 balls for her innings, which included 16 fours and a six as the visitors romped home with 33.1 overs to spare at Stormont.
Both players have for some time faced the writing on the wall that England have moved on from them in T20Is and that was confirmed when they were left out of the squad for next month’s T20 World Cup in the UAE. As a result, they are the spearheads of a second-string England Women’s side touring Ireland for three ODIs in Belfast followed by two T20Is in Dublin as the World Cup squad prepares to depart for a pre-tournament training camp in Abu Dhabi.
Since losing her grip on a spot in England’s T20 side – she has played just three T20Is since January 2022, bolstering a team missing its WPL stars in New Zealand earlier this year – Beaumont has scored a competition-best 118 in the Hundred and a double-century in last year’s Ashes Test.
She revealed her latest performance came despite suffering mid-innings back spasms but, despite another defiant display, it wasn’t about proving anyone wrong.
“That’s probably something about my character,” Beaumont said. “Since I was about four I got told I couldn’t do a lot of things and I’ve proved a lot of people wrong so I think it’s always been the way.
“But I think for me now, I’ve got nothing left to prove in my game. I’m playing for me and playing for England and playing for my team-mates. I’ve broken a few records and whatever. I don’t have to keep proving myself. I just have to keep playing and enjoying it.”
Nor did she harbour any bad feelings about being overlooked for the captaincy on this tour.
“Kate and I are both real experienced payers and she’s done a great job so far,” Beaumont said. “It was nice to be included in this squad and hopefully mentor some younger players and welcome them into the England club as such. For me it was just about having a real honour of representing the shirt and coming over here and making sure we won the series.”
The 19-year-old Kemp struck two sixes in her 47-ball knock, her highest score in 23 appearances across white-ball formats for England. Then, having only recently returned to bowling from a lengthy back problem, took 2 for 7 from her three overs.
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