Rain fell on Cardiff, to prevent Welsh Fire from consolidating their place at the top of the tree in the 2024 Hundred.
If it allows any of their other opponents the chance to snatch the trophy from their grasp, that will be another of cricket’s meaner tricks.
To allay our disappointment, Sky cricket offered us the welcome chance to show a game played at Sophia Gardens last year, Fire versus Trent Rockets.
It meant taking another look at an achievement that still stands alone in the four-year history of this format, Tammy Beaumont’s century.
This was a stunning display of batsmanship, if that term is still permitted. She hit the ball to all parts in an unparalleled display of judgement, timing, power and placement. 118 runs in 61 balls (20×4, 2×6). It was the sort of innings we’ve all played – at night, eyes tight shut.
It also revealed the very nature of cricket, even within the stylised framework of The Hundred. Trent’s bowling line-up was stretched to breaking-point. The skipper, Nat Sciver-Brunt, couldn’t turn her over owing to injury. The quickest bowler on offer was 21-year-old Cassidy McCarthy from Sussex. Beaumont tonked her for four 4s in a row. Naomi Dattani went for 18 off her first set of five, two more than McCarthy. Early on, Kirstie Gordon’s left-arm spin was short of its normal accuracy (2-27). Not even Alana King, now the uncrowned queen of leg-spinners, could find an answer. And the treatment Beaumont gave Bryony Smith’s off-spin may help to explain Smith’s modest retreat from versatile all-rounder to captain and opening bat.
But very few of the great innings of cricketing history have ended unblemished. In Beaumont’s case, she swung a pull straight into deep square-leg’s hands and out. In former times that would have cost the miscreant a good few pints of beer or forfeits. Perhaps it still does.
A reshowing of the game might jog the memories of the England selectors, but it’s unlikely. In a post-match interview Tammy wasn’t hopeful of regaining her place in the T20 side, and she still hasn’t.
One person keeping her waiting was her opening partner, Sophia Dunkley (24/18). The pair added 81 in 46 balls.
Now we can hope for a dry afternoon in London. It has been thus far.
