Beams ready to dominate on home turf

If anyone needed evidence that Australia leg-spinner Kristen Beams' form from her breakthrough Sri Lanka tour has carried into the home summer, all they needed to see was one delivery in Hobart.

Coming on to bowl for Victoria in the Women's National Cricket League late last month with South Australia's openers unbeaten after 10 overs, Beams was tasked with finding the key breakthrough for the Spirit. 

With her first ball, she delivered a wrong'un that went straight through Bridget Patterson and sent the Scorpions opener packing.

"That just shows the level of confidence she's bowling with at the moment,” said Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars coach Matthew Mott, who was watching in the stands at Hobart's Lindisfarne Oval as Beams finished her 10 overs with a very tidy 1-25.

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Beams was the star of Australia's two-week tour of Sri Lanka in September, finishing with 16 wickets at an average of 5.50 across the four one-day internationals and a sole Twenty20, including career-best figures in both limited-overs formats.

Having taken just 12 wickets in 14 ODI appearances prior to the tour, the 32-year-old claimed multiple wickets in every match in Sri Lanka, brilliantly combining daring flight with subtle variations in pace to leave opposition batters with few options to survive, let alone score.

"It was a breakthrough series in terms of wickets for her," Mott said. 

"She's always been a very dependable, solid, consistent performer.

"But purely on stats alone, if she doesn't get confidence out of that tour, something would be going on."

Having kicked off her summer with four WNCL appearances for Victoria – collecting seven wickets at 18.14 with an economy rate of 3.17 – next on Beams' on the agenda is Australia's five-match ODI series against South Africa, beginning in Canberra on November 18.

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That series kicks off a busy period that will see the Southern Stars play New Zealand both at home and away early next year, before they defend their 50-over World Cup title next June and July in England.

And Mott's backing his leggie to continue wreaking havoc on opposition batting line-ups, no matter the conditions.

"Sri Lanka spun a little but not a lot, so I don't see her game changing that much in Australian conditions.

"She's done a lot of work with her coaches at Victoria as well as (Australia coaches) Joe Dawes and Tim Coye on getting her action a bit quicker through crease.

"You can see that with the revs and pace she's got on the ball at the moment.

"She's made a vast improvement over the last 12 months and even in Australia, New Zealand or England conditions she's got the game now and the belief she can - maybe not do quite as well as Sri Lanka as that'll be hard to keep doing - but certainly be a very effective performer at international level if she keeps bowling like that." 

Australia v South Africa ODIs

18 November: Manuka Oval, Canberra

20 November: Manuka Oval, Canberra

23 November: North Sydney Oval, Sydney

27 November: Coffs Harbour International Stadium, Coffs Harbour

29 November: Coffs Harbour International Stadium, Coffs Harbour