Beaumont reached her maiden Test hundred in the penultimate over of play on day two and started the morning session on 100*. She moved through the gears quickly and was within one hit of 150 by Lunch. She reached the milestone off the first ball of the second over after lunch, becoming the ninth women to score a Test 150 for England. Heather Knight is the only player to do so twice. She made 157 against Australia at Wormsley in 2013 and 168* against Australia in Canberra in 2022.

By drinks in that session, Beaumont had moved to 178*, within one run of Rachael Heyhoe Flint’s highest score for any side against Australia in women’s Tests. She went passed Heyhoe Flint shortly afterwards to reach the second-highest score for England women.

Enid Snowball was the next woman in Beaumont’s sights as the holder of the highest women’s Test match score for England. She scored 189 against New Zealand in 1935, 56 years before Beaumont was born. She went past her with a beautifully timed four off Annabel Sutherland, guiding the balls behind square before celebrating the achievement.

It was against Sutherland again that she brought up her double-century, this time with a single. She is the eighth woman to score 200 in a Test match and one of two players still active in international cricket. The other is Ellyse Perry, who was out for 99 on day one of the Test at Trent Bridge. No one has made a double-century for England women in any format before Beaumont, with Charlotte Edwards holding the record for their highest ODI score of 173*.

England lost wickets quickly after Beaumont reached 200, with Sophie Ecclestone falling for 17, Kate Cross for a duck and Lauren Filer for 11. The next record for Beaumont to aim for was Perry’s as the highest unbeaten score in women’s Tests (213*). However, as she looked to get England to first-innings parity she brought out a big sweep to Ash Gardner and was bowled for 208.

Had Beaumont finished unbeaten, she would have held the record for the highest score of anyone to carry their bat in a women’s Test. That record still belongs to Enid Bakewell, who scored 112* opening against West Indies in 1979. England’s Mary Robinson is the only other women’s cricketer to carry their bat in a Test match.

However, Beaumont’s 208 means she has the fifth highest score of any women’s Test cricketer. Kiran Baluch’s 242 remains the highest, with Mithali Raj’s 214 in second place before Perry. Karen Rolton scored 209* for Australia against England in Leeds in 2001 to sit ahead of Beaumont in fourth on the list.

England were bowled out for 463, ten runs short of Australia’s first innings total. That is the third-highest team score for England in women’s Tests and the highest for anyone against Australia. Their previous best against Australia was 414 at Guildford in 1998.

463 all out sits eighth on the list of highest team scores of all time in women’s Tests. Four teams have made it past 500 in the past, with Australia the overall record holders thanks to their 596-9 declared against England in 1998.