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She was also player of the tournament as England lifted the ICC Women's World Cup on home soil in 2017, finishing as top scorer with 410 runs.

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Beaumont is one of only two English women - and five English players - to have scored an international hundred in all three formats of the game, previously becoming the first English woman to score a Test double-century with a memorable 208 at Trent Bridge in the 2023 Women's Ashes.

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"Playing for England for nearly 17 years has been the greatest honour," Beaumont said. "When I fell in love with playing cricket as a young girl, I barely knew that playing cricket for England was an option.

"It brings me so much joy to think how many girls and boys have been inspired, this summer especially, and how far the game has come in our country. We've always wanted to take the cap forward for the next generation and the time has come for me to hand over that privilege to the next generation of England players.

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"This Test match at Lord's - our first ever women's Test at Lord's - feels like the perfect occasion to sign off on a career that I could never have dreamt would be as special as it has been. I will still be playing domestic cricket, but I'd like to thank all the fans for your amazing support.

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"I'd also like to say thank you to all the coaches and support staff who I've worked with over the years, to my team-mates who I've shared so many amazing moments with, and to my friends and family - I couldn't have got this far without your love and support all these years."

A teary Beaumont later added that her retirement decision had been "a long time coming", when speaking to reporters ahead of the India Test at Lord's.

"Probably at the back end of the [2025] 50-over World Cup, I started to think about what ending I might want, and obviously being left out of the 50-over stuff earlier in the year was a bit of a blow," Beaumont said.

"I obviously spoke to my husband, my family, who were all really supportive of the next chapter. There's also been a couple of conversations with [head coach] Lottie [Edwards] around the future of this team and whatnot, and it just feels like the right time for me to make this decision for myself and for my family as well.

"Today, I obviously told the girls, which was probably the hardest bit, telling the dressing room. And then it's kind of back to business, and to enjoy batting for as long as possible against the red ball."

Beaumont, who plays for The Blaze and Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred, will continue to play domestically.

Beaumont to retire after 'stellar international career'

The 35-year-old was among the first players to receive an England Women's Central Contract in 2015 and has been an integral part of the England squad - across all three formats - during her lengthy career.

Beaumont was left out of England's Women's T20 World Cup squad, ahead of their runner-up finish to Australia on home soil, while her last ODI appearance came against South Africa in the 50-over World Cup semi-final last October.

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"Tammy has made a remarkable contribution to the England Women's cricket team and we will miss her incredibly," said Clare Connor, managing director of England Women.

"It is impossible to put into words or measure the impact Tammy has had on our sport. She played her first few years for England as an amateur, one of only a few players left whose international careers were forged through extraordinary levels of devotion and commitment and love of the game.

"The weight of runs she went on to score for England at the top of the order has put her in the category of one of the game's great batters. I know how much it has meant to Tammy to pull on the three lions and to help England win.

"She has always remained connected to the grassroots of the game and why she herself started playing. In so doing, she has been a wonderful role model, always wanting to inspire the next generation. Tammy should be so proud of a stellar international career and we wish her every success and happiness as she leaves the England dressing room."

Watch the first-ever women's Test at Lord's, between England and India, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Friday (11am first ball). Stream cricket and more top sport contract free with NOW. %!s()

Female spectators were barred from the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the pavilion at Lord's until March 1999 - now, just under 30 years later, Nat Sciver-Brunt is set to walk down those famous steps and lead her side out for the first ever women's Test match at cricket's most iconic venue against India.

So - who is playing? What are England's chances? And - more importantly - why has it taken this long? We answer all your questions ahead of the weekend's historic Test match...

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Why is this Test historic?

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The Test comes exactly 50 years after Rachael Heyhoe Flint led her side out for the first England women's match at Lord's and represents significant progress in the prioritisation of the women's game.

Since the inaugural women's Ashes in 1934, England have played 55 Tests at 19 venues across the country - including the Kia Oval on numerous occasions - but never at Lord's.

In June 2023, the Independent Commission for Equality in Cricket issued a report lambasting the "truly appalling" lack of Women's Test matches at Lord's - three years later, that report appears to have led to a change in attitude from the MCC, as England's women will take centre stage in north west London 142 years after the men's first Test match.

"It's a historic Test match for us as a group and for the Indian team," England coach Charlotte Edwards emphasised.

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"We can't wait to play in front of a lot of people over the four days."

What is England's record against India in Tests?

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For the last time that England beat India in a Test match, you have to go to back 1995, when their only ever win in 15 tries came in a thriller in Jamshedpur that England won by just two runs.

They've recorded three losses and 11 draws in their other contests, most recently being on the receiving end of a heavy defeat in India in December 2023, losing by 347 runs after getting skittled for 136 and 131 in their respective innings.

England last played India on home soil in 2021, recording a draw after a heroic 80 not out helped India star Sneh Rana hold on for a draw in their second innings after her side posted 231 and had to follow on in their first. The tourists, though, have not lost in nine Tests on British soil, recording two wins and seven draws.

Who is playing?

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Despite England's impressive T20 World Cup campaign, Charlotte Edwards has rung the changes for her side's first longer-format game of the summer.

Tammy Beaumont - who is inside England's top 20 all-time Test run scorers with 612 - returns to the side after missing out on the World Cup squad for her last international appearance after a stellar 17-year career for her country.

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It is understood Dean's workload is being managed following a back injury during the winter with Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson also being rested as all three recover from a taxing T20 World Cup campaign.

There are a group of players boasting a huge range of experience behind Sciver-Brunt - from Somerset's Heather Knight looking to play in her 15th Test, to Surrey duo Alice Capsey and Tilly Corteen-Coleman and Durham's Mady Villiers hoping to make their Test debuts.

Filer: England have momentum despite World Cup final loss

England seamer Lauren Filer:

"[Losing the World Cup final] was a disappointment, but we played so well in the World Cup.

'I think the girls that have come from that final that are coming into this Test match know what great cricket they've played.

"I think they can take that into this Test match -hopefully the fresh faces coming in as well bring some energy and excitement around the game.

"Hopefully we can go out and perform and show what we can do."

How do I watch?

Watch the first-ever women's Test at Lord's, between England and India, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Friday (11am first ball), with coverage continuing every day on the same channel until Monday July 13. Stream cricket and more top sport contract free with NOW. %!s()

In most centers, that’s where the story would end. Instead, I offered her a working interview — two observational hours in an infant classroom. When she came back into my office, she was beaming. “I love this,” she told me. “Just give me a chance. I’ll learn.”

Her name is Lindsay. Fifteen years later, she’s still teaching.

Seeing the Educator

Lindsay’s story isn’t just about passion or perseverance; it’s about support. We made a deliberate choice — over and over again — to see her as a whole person first and an employee second. We figured out scheduling so she could get her Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. We found coverage when she needed practicum hours elsewhere. I wasn’t there for every step of Lindsay’s journey that followed, but she and I have stayed in touch throughout all these years. She earned her associate’s degree and then her bachelor’s degree; she grew from part-time infant teacher to lead teacher to program coordinator.

Lindsay’s story shows us what happens when an educator is truly seen — something our field has yet to get right. What gets overlooked most in conversations about the quality of early childhood education is that educators are engineers. Every learning opportunity a young child experiences is designed, built and brought to life by a teacher. There is no curriculum three-year-olds activate for themselves. Every moment of discovery, every language-rich exchange and every carefully scaffolded small group experience is built by someone. A teacher looks at a group of children, weighs their individual needs, considers the family’s hopes, aligns these needs and hopes to learning objectives and makes a decision about what to put in front of those kids at that moment. And they do this all day long.

These educators sit at the nexus of everyone’s expectations — the school’s, the family’s, the child’s — and constantly make consequential decisions on behalf of all of them. How well they make those decisions depends on how well we support them. And right now, we are falling short.

New research shows what becomes possible when we get this right. A multiyear randomized controlled trial conducted by the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University examined 125 preschool classrooms across public and private settings over three school years. When teachers worked within a connected ecosystem of curriculum, assessment and live professional learning, teacher retention rates increased by 23 percentage points. In turn, children in those classrooms demonstrated gains in social-emotional, language, and math skills, according to the GOLD assessment. Educators reported higher personal accomplishment and lower fatigue, not because the work got easier but because they felt genuinely equipped to do it well.

Teaching young children is weighty work, and anyone who tells you otherwise hasn’t done it. But there is a profound difference between the exhaustion of doing hard work well and the burnout of doing hard work alone, unsupported and without feedback or the necessary tools. The first is sustainable. The second is what’s driving teachers out of the profession.

Our field is philosophically built on the science of the whole child — the idea that social, emotional, cognitive and relational development are all deeply interconnected. And yet the systems we’ve built to support the adults in our classrooms are fragmented, episodic and too often driven by compliance. A one-day training here. An on-demand module there. A checklist where a lifeline should be.

What drove the study’s results wasn’t any single tool; it was coherence. Curriculum, assessment, coaching and both on-demand and live professional learning operated as an integrated system.

I’ve seen up close what the absence of that looks like. During a recent site visit, I walked into a classroom where a beautifully designed curriculum sat on the shelf, spine uncracked. The teacher was running circle time from a bag of worn printables she’d been reusing for years. When I pulled the curriculum down and opened it with her, her face lit up. She had no idea. Nobody had ever shown her, told her she was expected to use it or checked in to see whether she had. That pattern is everywhere. Leaders make good decisions about what to invest in and then underinvest in making sure those tools are actually used and used well.

The Policy Choice

For policymakers expanding access to early childhood care and education right now, the central policy question is not just what to fund, but how to design systems that enable educators to succeed. Funding curriculum adoption without funding the professional learning infrastructure that makes it sustainable leaves impact on the table. We must invest in the connective tissue — the coaching, the feedback loops and the live and sustained support — that moves the needle. And we have proved that live, sustained support can be delivered very effectively in a virtual model. It’s scalable.

For district and program leaders: Start with an honest audit. Are curriculum, assessment, coaching and professional development working in concert? Are teachers receiving consistent, specific feedback on their practice? Those are the gaps where good teachers lose their footing — and where people like Lindsay either take root or walk away.

Lindsay didn’t stay because the system worked; she stayed because someone made it work for her. But we cannot build a workforce on heroic individual efforts alone. We need systems designed to see educators fully — their potential, their development and the weight of what they carry every day.

We’re a field that talks about whole children. It’s time we design systems that support the whole educator. The evidence is there. Now we need to act on it. %!s()

Somewhat bizarrely, Antonelli has perhaps been at his most dominant over the rest of the field in terms of pure pace over the last three rounds, but a large chunk of misfortune along with a couple of errors have seen his lead cut by 41 points.

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He has rarely been outpaced by Russell in this period, but the Brit used his experience and grit to grind out a win in Austria and following that up with a second place at Silverstone as wheel-guard failure for Antonelli dropped the Italian from contention for victory to outside the points.

While Antonelli's pace has been consistent, the 19-year-old has made the odd blunder. He was lucky to get away with some overzealous driving at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix, while a poor start at Silverstone saw him overtaken by both Ferraris before the first corner.

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There seems to be little doubt that Antonelli is going to continue to deliver strong pace, but the question is whether, with the added pressure of his rivals closing in, he can avoid the sort of trouble that might give them a chance to further reduce his advantage.

Having gone three races without a win after his historic streak of five victories, Antonelli could do with reasserting himself by getting back on the top step in at least one of the two events before the break.

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Pressure mounts on Red Bull in Verstappen saga

There's a sense of deja vu around Max Verstappen's situation as we approach the final two races before the summer break.

This time last year there was plenty of speculation around Verstappen's future, before he confirmed ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix that he would stay with the team for at least one more season.

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Verstappen is signed up with Red Bull until the end of 2028 but has an exit clause in his contract stipulating that he can leave the team at the end of this season if he's outside the top two at the start of the summer break, which his retirement at Silverstone confirmed he will be.

It became public knowledge during the previous double-header that Verstappen's representatives had met with McLaren to sound out the Woking squad about whether there might be an opening for the Dutchman.

That story dominated the build-up at Silverstone, and the weekend couldn't have gone much worse for Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies, with Verstappen spending much of it frustrated by a top-speed issue with his car, before crashing out in the closing stages of the race.

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The crash was caused by an issue with the car's rear wing not fully closing, and Verstappen was left saying he was "fed up" with the "dangerous" situation after he had crashed as a result of a similar issue during qualifying in Austria a week earlier.

While it's unclear just how many options Verstappen has away from Red Bull, there's little doubt that Red Bull have never been under more pressure from their star driver.

Leclerc to continue resurgence?

So no more talk of there being some kind of Ferrari contract renewal 'curse' hanging over Charles Leclerc in the wake of his accomplished drive to victory at the British Grand Prix.

Still, there was no disguising the fact that the going had certainly been rough for Leclerc since that extended deal with the Scuderia was announced last month in the lead up to his home race in Monaco.

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He crashed out of the race on that very weekend in the Principality, crashed again six days later during qualifying in Barcelona and, while he stuck his SF-26 on the front row a fortnight on in Austria to suggest the tide was turning, the Spielberg race was fairly disastrous too in that he had slumped to eighth place by the finish.

But something appeared to click for Leclerc by the business end of the Silverstone Sprint weekend, allowing him to outperform the in-form Lewis Hamilton in the other Ferrari around the track where the Briton so often makes the difference and finally, with the added fortune of Antonelli's late demise, ending what had become a 624-day personal victory drought.

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Leclerc spoke after the race of having the 'feeling back' with his car, although stressed the win was just the first step towards delivering more consistent form. That's where Hamilton has certainly had the edge over him in recent months, allowing the Briton to build what stands as a 39-point advantage in their in-house head-to-head in the standings behind the Mercedes drivers.

Leclerc will now go Spa, scene of the first of his now-nine career grands prix victories back in 2019, surely with renewed confidence as Ferrari aim to show that their surprisingly strong Silverstone form will transfer to Belgium's similarly fast and flowing high-speed track. Should they do that, then Mercedes really may have a true championship fight on their hands heading towards the summer break.

Aston Martin upgrades finally set to arrive

After a dismal start to the season, Aston Martin are hoping to finally turn a corner when they bring a major upgrade package to Hungary.

Team principal Adrian Newey confirmed before the British Grand Prix that the package will result in a significant weight reduction along with some major changes to the AMR26's aerodynamics.

Just how much impact the changes will have remains to be seen, given the team's main issues this season have come from their Honda engine.

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While it has not yet been confirmed when an engine update will arrive, the redesign of the car has the potential to allow elements of the power unit to function more efficiently.

These upgrades are not only significant in the context of the team's shocking underperformance, but also in regard to Fernando Alonso's future.

The Spaniard turns 45 a few days after the race in Hungary, and his decision over whether to continue for another year will surely be influenced by whether or not he sees positive results from the new parts.

Having slipped into obscurity, Aston Martin will be right back under the spotlight at the Hungaroring.

'Silly season' to ramp up?

Given Max Verstappen's future - both in terms of him staying in the sport or considering a switch of teams - has been a talking point all season, it's fair to say the Dutchman's situation sits outside F1's regular 'silly season' of speculation around other movement on the grid.

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However, whatever he decides will undoubtedly have a bearing on the rest of the grid, potentially freeing up a Red Bull seat and triggering a potential domino effect.

Alonso's retirement decision, which could free up another seat at Aston Martin, will also be a key moment in dictating how much drama we see off track over the coming weeks.

So who would be in line for either of those rather desirable seats, should they become available? If Verstappen were to leave Red Bull for McLaren or Mercedes, whichever driver he replaced at those teams would become an obvious option to make a straight swap.

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However, F1 isn't always that simple, and there is no doubt there are a couple of other drivers on the grid who feel they would be just as worthy of a chance to drive for a top team.

Carlos Sainz continues to impress at Williams and may be running out of patience after the team's underwhelming start to 2026. The Spaniard has proven he can deliver under pressure at Ferrari and is a safe bet for any elite squad.

The other name that has been floating around is that of Britain's own Oliver Bearman, who is having a strong season for a Haas team that appear to be falling behind in the development race.

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The 21-year-old is contracted to Ferrari but with Hamilton and Leclerc in form, may decide his best route to moving further up the grid is to look beyond the Italian team.

There also continues to be speculation that Haas want to replace Bearman's team-mate Esteban Ocon, who is having a difficult campaign. Former Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda is a prime candidate to make a return to the grid in that seat.

Formula 1's summer run continues with the Belgian Grand Prix at legendary Spa-Francorchamps on July 17-19, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime %!s()

The company said in a blog post on Monday that the site in Richland Parish, Louisiana — home to what will be Meta's largest data center — will be a 5GW facility and cost over $50 billion. That's higher than the $27 billion figure that was revealed in October, when Meta and Blue Owl Capital formed a joint venture to help with the buildout and management of the facility, originally planned as a 2GW data center.

As Meta pursues its multi-hundred-billion-dollar buildout artificial intelligence buildout, the company and hyperscaler rivals Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon are taking advantage of tax rebates and energy deals being offered by states that are fighting to get a piece of the AI boom.

In late 2024, Louisiana Republican Governor Jeff Landry signed into law a 20-year sales tax exemption for data centers built before 2029 as part of an effort to court Meta in the state, CNBC previously reported. Landry is set to host a press event on Monday in Baton Rouge.

"I'm a business guy," Landry told CNBC in an interview last year. "What we know is when you look at the overall comprehensive package here, it's in the black. For local government, and the state, and how you get to the bottom line is irrespective to me."

Meta is expanding the project as it seeks to build out enough AI infrastructure to meet demand. The announcement comes after Meta had its best week on the stock market since early 2024 following the release of two major AI models under the leadership of AI chief Alexandr Wang, head of Meta Superintelligence Labs. Investors have been looking for the company to start showing returns on its outsized AI investments.

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Meta said in Monday's post that the company "pays the full costs of the energy, water, and related infrastructure the data center uses so consumers aren't paying the cost." Since construction of the Louisiana data center began in December 2024, local businesses have received over $1.6 billion in contracts from Meta, the company said.

"With this expansion, we will be investing over $1 billion in local infrastructure improvements, including roads, water and wastewater systems," Meta said in the post. The company didn't announce a financial partner for the expansion.

When the project began, the estimated price tag was $10 billion. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post roughly six months later that the supercluster, named Hyperion, would be "able to scale up to 5GW over several years." Unlike traditional data centers, superclusters are packed with graphics processing units and related cutting-edge hardware tailored for AI workloads.

"Meta Superintelligence Labs will have industry-leading levels of compute and by far the greatest compute per researcher," Zuckerberg wrote.

A Meta spokesperson told CNBC that the Hyperion project should reach 2GW by 2030, but there's no timeline for when the full 5GW project will be completed.

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