Charlotte Edwards

Charlotte Marie Edwards CBE (born 17 December 1979) 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 (WODI), 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 (WT20Is). 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.