England opener Tammy Beaumont has hit out at comparisons between women's and men's cricket saying they're "the biggest thing that sometimes holds it back".
Beaumont made her England debut in 2009 but took a while to establish herself as a key member of the side, becoming one of the best openers in the world after earning a recall in 2016. Her development has coincided with more investment in the women's game, with Beaumont one of 18 players awarded central contracts in 2014 in a move that saw women's cricket in England enter a new professional era.
Since then, investment in the sport has continued, with England funding 41 new professional contracts in 2020. And that has directly translated into greater interest in women's cricket.
Earlier this month, the Women's Sports Trust revealed that a record 15.1m people watched women's sport in the first three months of the year, with the Women's Cricket World Cup accounting for 13% of the viewership. Remarkably, that made it the fourth most watched women's competition in the UK, despite only lasting for a month and airing overnight due to the tournament being staged in New Zealand.
And while women's cricket has grown exponentially since she made her debut, Beaumont is keen for the sport to continue its progression. Speaking to Sky Sports, she said: "The game can definitely still go higher.
"The biggest thing that sometimes holds it back is the comparison to the men's game - people saying 'women don't bowl 90mph, don't hit sixes, don't hit the ball as hard'. It can kill the game.
"You need to see it for what it is, see that it is different, judge it for what it is. It should still be critiqued when it falls short as we need that if we want to improve.
"But it doesn't help if people say, 'she wouldn't do very well against Jofra Archer, would she?' Those sorts of things really aren't helpful."
Beaumont was part of the England side that lost the Women's Ashes 12-4 and was also beaten by Australia in the World Cup final and she believes England need to invest in more professional contracts in a bid to bridge the gap.
"One of the reasons Australia are so good is that they have got 90-plus full-time professional cricketers that genuinely do not have to do anything else to make money other than play cricket 12 months a year," she added.
"Over here, there are just under 20 England players that can do that but teams in our domestic regional structure have only got about six players each getting paid full-time. It is obviously great to see the pay rises in The Hundred but that is only for a small part of the year.
"The rest of the time, a lot of these players are having to work, coach or whatever to get by. It has to get to the point where your whole squad is professional and can train full-time. That will improve the standard and competition for places."
