How Northern Diamonds unearthed a gem in England prospect Bess Heath

Heath played in a T20 warm-up international against the touring South Africans at Cardiff on Monday alongside Northern Diamonds colleague Linsey Smith.

Contracted wicketkeeper bat Heath impressed, scoring a brisk 43 in a 15-run T20 win in Wales.

The 20-year-old Yorkshire player from Chesterfield is highly-rated both within the Diamonds set and outside of it, as her England call-up suggests.

Heath hit an unbeaten, match-clinching 51, in Sunday’s commanding Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy win over Thunder at Sale and will be back in regional colours on Saturday when the Diamonds host Sunrisers at Headingley (10.30am today).

“What a great character. If you ever need anything – your career breaks down, things like that –Bess is the one to go to,” said fellow Diamond Jenny Gunn.

“For such a young kid to have her head screwed on like she has, it’s amazing.

“Bess is such an impressive person. She built her car from the ground up, she’s from a family of tree surgeons, and she can even make a punchbag out of sawdust.

“You could do a day in the life of Bess Heath and you wouldn’t get bored. In fact, you’d be tired just watching her because she can’t sit still.”

With 255 international caps to her name between 2004 and 2019, Gunn knows just what it takes to succeed in an England shirt.

“For me, how smart Bess is will be what makes her an international cricketer,” said the all-rounder. “As a cricketer, she’s learnt so much in such a short space of time. She’s only properly learnt how to play the reverse sweep this winter and she’s already hitting them for six.

“She’s such an exciting player. She has a lot of power, she always has had that. But she’s a lot smarter with it now. That’s a very dangerous prospect for opponents.

“We’re lucky that we have Linsey Smith as well. We have people battling for England places at Diamonds, and it’s brilliant to see.”

Gunn is no longer battling for an England place having retired three years ago. But the good news is that she is firmly back in contention for regional cricket having had the first part of this summer wrecked by a knee injury. The 36-year-old has only played two games so far this summer, the final Charlotte Edwards Cup fixture and the opening RHFT game at Sale on Sunday.