Beams, 41, represented Australia in all three formats from 2014 to 2017. She will join head coach Lisa Keightley, bowling coach and mentor Jhulan Goswami, batting coach Devika Palshikar and fielding coach Nicole Bolton in the MI support staff. This will also be Keightley’s first season with MI, having worked with Delhi Capitals in the last three seasons.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to work with someone like a Jhulan Goswami, one of the greats of the game, somebody I played cricket against,” Beams said in MI’s Instagram post. “[It’s an] incredible culture…that they’ve developed a winning culture over a really long period of time, but a family that’s what you hear everyone talk about that this group is so tight-knit, and it’s a family and it’s what you want to be a part of. And I think as a coach coming in, that’s exactly what you want to be able to do, is to walk into an environment that feels really tight-knit, and a team that knows how to win.”
Beams played one Test, 30 ODIs and 18 T20Is and turned out for Melbourne Stars in the WBBL from 2015-16 to 2019-20. She then turned to coaching in the WBBL, the Hundred and the Australia Under-19 women’s team.
In the auction last month, MI largely retained and bought back several players who had played for them in the first three seasons.