England opening batter Tammy Beaumont has celebrated the appointment of Lisa Keightley as England Women's first female coach but says gender is irrelevant in terms of the role.

Beaumont regarded the appointment as a landmark moment, but told Wisden: "I don't care about the gender of the coach, to be honest. It's about who's the best candidate.

"As a woman in sport it's nice for it to be a woman for the first time, and breaking down those barriers, but actually as a player I want the best coach available, and obviously Lisa is that as well," she added.

Beaumont enjoyed an illustrious career under ex-coach Mark Robinson during his four-year tenure before he was removed following a disastrous 2019 Ashes campaign. 

During his reign, she rocketed from her role as a fringe player on the edge of retirement (averaging 17 from 23 ODIs and just 8 from 33 T20Is) to England's highest scoring woman over the last four years, leading World Cup run scorer and Wisden Cricketer of the Year.

In the interview with Wisden the Kent player admitted it was 'tough' to bid farewell to Robinson. "It will be quite tough going forward without them but that’s professional cricket and I’m looking forward to working with Lisa.

"Things move on," she said. "If you look at professional sport and particularly international sport, these days nothing lasts forever and we had been underperforming, particularly in that Ashes series."

Beaumont played under the Australian coach during her time at the England Academy and doesn't see her implementing too many dramatic changes.

"I’m not sure she’s massively different, she’s still very much about being people first and cricketers second and trying to really improve and grow as people and players. And that was something which Robbo did too," she said.

Keightley's tenure got off to a flying start with England gaining a 47-run victory over ACT XI on Monday ahead of their first game of the tri-series against India and Australia on Friday.