Charlotte Edwards
Charlotte Marie Edwards is an English former cricketer and current cricket coach and commentator. She played primarily as a right-handed batter. She appeared in 23 Test matches, 191 One Day Internationals and 95 Twenty20 Internationals for England between 1996 and 2016. She played domestic cricket in England for East Anglia, Kent, Hampshire and Southern Vipers, as well as overseas for Northern Districts, Western Australia, Perth Scorchers, South Australia and Adelaide Strikers.
Edwards is considered one of the most significant figures in women's cricket. At the time of her international debut in 1996, in a Test match against New Zealand, she was the youngest woman to play for England. In 1997, the day before her 18th birthday, she scored what remains the highest score for an English player in a Women's One Day International, scoring 173* against Ireland. She has the second most appearances in Women's Test matches, and the most appearances for England in WODIs. She is also England's second-leading run-scorer in Women's Test matches, and all-time leading run-scorer in both WODIs and Women's Twenty20 Internationals. She was named ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year in 2008, and PCA Women's Player of the Year and a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2014. She was awarded an MBE in 2009 and a CBE in 2014. In 2022, she was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Edwards first captained England in 2005, and was appointed as captain of the national side permanently in 2006, following the retirement of Clare Connor. England went on to win the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup, the 2009 ICC Women's World Twenty20 and three outright Ashes series under her leadership. She remained captain of the side until the side's exit from the 2016 ICC Women's World Twenty20, after which she was told she was not part of the side's future plans: she subsequently retired from international cricket. She continued playing domestic cricket for Hampshire and Southern Vipers before announcing her retirement from all cricket in September 2017, playing her final match in June 2018 for Hampshire.
Following her playing career, she became Director of Women's Cricket at Hampshire in 2018. She became head coach of her former team Southern Vipers in 2020, and led them to the first two Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy titles. She also coaches Southern Brave in The Hundred, Sydney Sixers in the Women's Big Bash League and Mumbai Indians in the Women's Premier League. In 2021, the new English domestic women's Twenty20 competition, the Charlotte Edwards Cup, was named after her in recognition of her contribution to English cricket, with Southern Vipers first winning the trophy named after their coach in 2022. She also regularly appears as a commentator on cricket for Sky Sports, and was appointed president of the Professional Cricketers' Association in 2021.
Early life
Edwards was born on 17 December 1979 in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, and grew up on a farm near Pidley. Her father, Clive Edwards, played for Huntingdonshire County Cricket Club. She played her first club cricket at Ramsey Cricket Club in Huntingdonshire, and later captained one of the youth sides. She attended Ramsey Abbey School, a comprehensive school.Domestic career
County cricket
Edwards played her first county cricket match in 1994, for East Anglia against East Midlands in the Women's Area Championship, in which she took 2/34 from 11 overs and scored 25 runs. She was the side's leading run-scorer that season, with 186 runs including 77* made against Surrey Second XI. Edwards played for East Anglia until the end of the 1999 season, including in the first three seasons of the Women's County Championship, which was instituted in 1997. She made her maiden List A century in 1996, scoring 113 against East Midlands. She was the leading run-scorer in the 1998 Women's County Championship, with 394 runs including three centuries.Edwards joined Kent ahead of the 2000 season. She captained the side once in her first season, before becoming the regular captain of the side in 2002 until she departed the club at the end of the 2016 season. During her time with Kent, the side would win the Women's County Championship in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016, and the Women's Twenty20 Cup in 2011, 2013 and 2016. She was the leading run-scorer in the Women's County Championship in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2011 and 2014. She was also the leading wicket-taker in the Women's County Championship in 2006, and the leading run-scorer in the Women's Twenty20 Cup in 2010. Her highest score in county cricket came in 2002, scoring 151* for Kent against Middlesex. She also scored 151, dismissed, against Sussex in 2014.
After winning the County Championship and Twenty20 Cup double with Kent in 2016, Edwards announced that she was leaving the club. A week later, it was announced that she was joining Hampshire, a side she would represent for two seasons, in 2017 and 2018. During her time with the club, they were promoted from Division 2 of the Women's County Championship in 2017 before winning Division 1 a season later, in 2018. Having retired from international cricket in 2016, Edwards announced her retirement from all cricket in September 2017. She played her final county cricket match, and final match in all cricket, on 17 June 2018 against Somerset in the Twenty20 Cup, where she did not bat or bowl.
Women's Cricket Super League
In 2016, Edwards was named as captain of Southern Vipers in the inaugural Women's Cricket Super League. The Vipers went on to win the competition, with Edwards batting four times in five appearances, with a top score of 30 against Western Storm. She captained the side again in 2017, her final season playing in the competition, with the Vipers once again reaching the final but this time losing to Western Storm.Overseas cricket
Edwards played for Northern Districts in New Zealand's domestic 50-over competition in 2000–01 and 2002–03. She was the side's leading run-scorer in both seasons she played, as well as scoring a century in both seasons.Image:2015–16 WBBL PS v ST 15-12-28 Edwards.JPG|thumb|250px|right|Edwards batting for Perth Scorchers, 2015.
In 2014–15, Edwards played for Western Australia in the Women's National Cricket League and the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup. She was the side's leading run-scorer in both competitions. Edwards also captained the side, and at the end of the season was named the side's player of the year in both competitions, and awarded the Zoe Goss Medal, for being the outstanding female cricketer in Western Australia. The following season, she played in the inaugural season of the Women's Big Bash League for Perth Scorchers. She was her side's leading run-scorer, and the second-highest across the whole competition, with 462 runs including four half-centuries.
In 2016–17, Edwards played for South Australia in the Women's National Cricket League and their equivalent team Adelaide Strikers in the Women's Big Bash League. She was South Australia's leading run-scorer in the Women's National Cricket League, with 312 runs including two centuries. She scored 141 runs at an average of 20.14 in eight matches in the Women's Big Bash League.
Other cricket
Edwards also played in the Super Fours, for Diamonds between 2002 and 2012 and for Sapphires in 2013. In the opening match of the 2006 Super Fours, Edwards scored her List A high score, scoring 199* from 151 balls against Sapphires. She also took her only career five-wicket haul in the Super Fours, in 2005, taking 5/31 against V Team.International career
Age-group international cricket
Edwards began playing for junior England sides in 1992, and played for the side at Under-20, Under-21 and Under-23 level. She played for Junior England against the Netherlands in a warm-up match for the 1993 Women's Cricket World Cup, and for England Under-21s at the 1997–98 Caltrate Inter-Provincial Tournament, South Africa's domestic 50-over tournament, which England Under-21s won.Early years
Edwards made her international debut on 12 July 1996, for England against New Zealand in a Test match at Guildford. She scored 34 in the first innings and 31 in the second innings, opening the batting both times. At the time of her international debut, she was 16 years old, making her the youngest woman to have played for England at the time. The record was later broken when Holly Colvin made her debut aged 15 in 2005.She next played for England against South Africa in 1997, making her Women's One Day International debut in the first match of the series on 15 August. In the second match of the series, Edwards scored her maiden international century, scoring 102 from 118 deliveries at the County Ground, Taunton. At the time, she was the youngest player to score a WODI century, with the record subsequently being broken by Mithali Raj in 1997. She next played in the 1997 Women's Cricket World Cup in India and, in England's third match of the tournament and a day short of her 18th birthday, scored a then-record WODI score of 173* against Ireland.
In 1998, Edwards played against Australia, and scored three half-centuries in the three Test series, with a high score of 87. She next played against India in 1999, and scored her maiden Test century in the only Test match, with 108 from 249 deliveries. She was, and remains, the second youngest player to hit a Women's Test match century, at 19 years and 210 days.
Edwards toured Australia and New Zealand with England in early 2000, scoring two half-centuries in the WODI series against Australia. In the summer of 2000, South Africa toured England for five WODIs, with Edwards scoring two half-centuries including 96* in the fourth match. At the 2000 Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, Edwards made her third WODI century, scoring 139* against the Netherlands.
Injury and beyond
In 2001, Edwards obtained a cruciate ligament injury to her right knee, requiring surgery, which meant that she missed the whole season. She returned to play for England for the 2002 Women's Tri-Series.After appearing for England throughout 2003, in the World Series of Women's Cricket, against Australia and against South Africa, Edwards scored her first international century since 2000 in 2004, scoring 102 in a WODI against South Africa at East London. During England's next series, against New Zealand, Edwards was the leading run-scorer in the WODI series, and scored 117 in the only Test match. On the same tour, Edwards made her Women's Twenty20 International debut, as she played in the first-ever international Twenty20 match for either gender.
Edwards was the leading run-scorer at the 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup, with 280 runs including a high score of 99 against South Africa. She helped England win the Women's Ashes in 2005, including top-scoring with 69 in the first innings of the first Test match.