Born in Greece to English parents and raised in Italy and Singapore, Tash Farrant moved to Kent when she was eight but was already playing cricket for the Sevenoaks School boys' team by the time she was 11, bowling at a quicker pace than many of her male counterparts. She made her debut for Kent in 2012, aged 16, and was also selected for the England Under 19s.

An injury to Katherine Brunt saw her called up to the England squad for their one-day and T20 series against Pakistan the following summer. She impressed on her T20 debut at Loughborough, taking 2 for 15 and offering valuable variety with her left-arm seam.

She was selected for the tour of West Indies in late 2013 and made her ODI debut in November, and was also included in the 2013-14 women's Ashes squad, though she only played one T20 game across the multi-format series. However, she was awarded one of the first tranche of ECB central contracts in May 2014.

She played no internationals between January 2014 and February 2016 but was called up to the ODI squad to tour South Africa in early 2016 in place of the injured Brunt, having impressed on a training camp in Sri Lanka in late 2015. She was also selected for the 2016 World Twenty20, and for the T20 series against Pakistan later that year, taking 1 for 15 in the last game of the series at Chelmsford.

But opportunities were limited over the next few years: she missed out on the 2017 World Cup squad, and was released from her central contract in early 2019. Her recall for the tour of New Zealand in early 2021 was hailed as evidence that the new domestic contracts were working, after she had proved her ability and her pace while captaining the South East Stars in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.

Raf Nicholson and ESPNcricinfo staff