When Charlotte Edwards leads England out against New Zealand tomorrow in a T20I at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval, here in New Zealand, it will be her 200th game as captain of England.
It has been a remarkable career, and one that does not look like ending anytime soon. She is quite open about her desire to lead England in the Women's 50 Over World Cup in England in 2017. Given that she is still the mainstay of the England batting, her retirement in the near future would not only be premature, but a major disaster for English cricket.
Despite her well-known dodgy knees she has missed very few games over the last 19 years. She debuted for England as a 16 year old in July 1996 at Guildford in a Test Match against tomorrow's opponents New Zealand (she was England's youngest player at the time), serving her apprenticeship under current Head of Women's Cricket in England Clare Connor, who was skipper from 2000. When she was injured Edwards took over the reins against Sri Lanka in an ODI in Colombo in 2005. England won by 163 runs. Nearly 10 years later she is still at the helm.
She has captained in 9 Tests, 81 T20s and 109 ODIs. Tomorrow will be her 82nd T20 in charge. Clare Connor skippered the first two ODI games England ever played and Edwards has skippered since then, missing just four games of the 87 England have played to date.
Overall she has played 288 games for England and is the leading run scorer in the world in international T20 (2,294 runs) and ODI cricket (5,728 runs). She is second in the Test Match list of all-time run scorers with 1,645 runs, just 290 runs behind fellow English woman Janette Brittin, who played five more Tests.
She has a total of 13 hundreds to her name and 63 fifties, but is yet to score a 100 in a T20 international. Tomorrow would be a good day to do it. The three match series is currently level at 1-1, with England having comprehensively won the first game, but losing out in the second as the Kiwis chased down England's 122/5 to win in the last over.
But personal landmarks are not really what Edwards is about. She is a tough captain by her own admission and is desperately competitive. She eats, sleeps and breathes English Women's Cricket and deserves yet another day in the spotlight tomorrow. But for her the result will matter so much more.
Hope you (and England) have a great day Lottie!
MD
23/ii/15
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In a world of sports and sporting role models Charlotte Edwards is THE role model for any aspiring English female cricketer. Time for everyone else to raise their game.
ReplyDeleteA Total Legend. It's difficult to see how those feats will ever be repeated.
ReplyDeleteGreatest captain is a subjective thing but I'd suggest the following attributes of a great leader:-
ReplyDelete1. Longevity - leading over a long period of time
2. Team success - leading your team to world level achievement
3. Integrity - never being involved in scandal either personally or professionally
4. Being good enough to make a world team on the merits of your performances
5. Performing continuously over a long period / never being picked just for your captaincy
So, on that basis I'd suggest Lottie is not only England's best female cricket captain ever, not only England's best cricket captain ever but probably up there as England's best captain ever regardless of which sport.