Leading from the front

Charlotte Marie Edwards made it to the national squad of England at the age of 16, a feat in itself, against New Zealand in 1996. She was the youngest debutant from England until teammate Holly Colvin joined the team at the age of 15 in 2005. Samyukta Somvanshi explores the England captain's career and brings us this piece.

In 1997, her career graph was impressive; the right handed batswoman hit 12 centuries in club, country and international cricket, three of which were scored in international tests and four were scored in ODIs. These included her career best score of 173 runs – the second highest score in Ladies Test Cricket history, against Ireland in the 1997 World Cup.

She scored 139 runs in the 2000 World Cup in New Zealand against the hosts. She hit another century by securing 117 runs in the drawn npower Test against New Zealand in August 2004. At the end of the 2003/2004 season, her ODI average reached an all time high with 66.7%.

In the 2005 World Cup, she took her performance to another level as a consistent scorer. She secured 63 runs in the second group game against Sri Lanka followed by 58 runs against India and 99 runs against South Africa until England was defeated in the semi-final by Cup favourites Australia.

She appeared in all five matches in T20 NatWest Women’s Series against Australia. She scored 57 runs and as a leg-break bowler hauled three wickets in the deciding match. Despite her contribution, England lost the series 2-3.

Injuries did not spare Edwards from tough times. The cruciate ligament in her knee was injured in 2000 forcing her to withdraw for the entire season of 2001. She bounced back with riveting feats until she was afflicted by another injury in 2007. She returned to lead England against New Zealand and Australia after recovery the following year.

Edwards took charge as captain in 2005 when Clare Connor pulled out with a foot problem in a tour against Sri Lanka and India. Following Connor’s retirement in 2006, she became permanent as the captain. Previously, she had captained the Huntingdonshire Under-16 boys’ team and England’s Under-21 team. In county cricket, she captains the Kent team.

Under the newly appointed skipper then, England won the ODI series against Sri Lanka by 2-0 followed by a ten wicket win over India in an Under-21 warm-up match. She triggered 68 runs partnering Jenny Gunn to win the opening ODI against India. She again secured 66 runs but retired injured while the series was still on. England lost the series 4-1.

In 2005, she led England to win the Ashes after a draught of 42 years. In 2006, she led England on home turf against India for the first time. England won the ODI series 4-0 and lost 0-1 in the Test series although she crafted a fine century.

Edwards bettered the paradigm of a fine skipper recently. England sealed a victory down-under in back-to-back games in the ODI series over New Zealand and retained the Ashes title by beating Australia on their home turf, under her captaincy. These wins were remarkable since England had not won an ODI in Australia since 1988 and in New Zealand since 1991.

The first Evening Telegraph Sports Woman of the Year for 1998, Vodafone England Player of the Year for 2004 and 2005 are some awards Edwards has to her credit. Till date, the cricketer has scored 3304 runs in 106 ODIs and 1112 runs in 17 test matches.

She works for the sales and public relations of Hunts County Bats when she is away from the pitch.