An appreciation of Charlotte Edwards

So, Lottie has gone. The most famous English female cricketer of the era has called it a day and it will be interesting to see how the side which she has played in and guided since 1996 will fare without her presence and runs.

Charlotte Edwards made her international debut in July 1996 and, in the better part of twenty years at the highest level, has set innumerable records; 309 matches for England of which she captained 210, the most-ever by a female cricketer, after taking over from Clare Connor. A tough act to follow but both ladies have proved to be fantastic ambassadors to the sport. 10,273 runs over the three formats with the only surprise that another Englishwoman, Janette Brittin, being the only international lady cricketer to have scored more Test runs than Charlotte.

Had she been in the plans of the selectors this summer, Charlotte would have become the first lady cricketer to have scored 6000 ODI runs. Her international career spanned just a couple of months short of twenty years and her captaincy career five months shy of ten years. Indeed, after being just a player in her first two T20 matches, she captained England in her remaining ninety-three. Australia’s Belinda Clark, with 102 matches, is the only other international female cricketer to captain her country in over 100 ODIs: Lottie did so in 117 to comfortably lead the field.

Charlotte may be remembered as an attacking opening and top-order bat but she also proved herself to be a useful bowler as the figures below may suggest.

Charlotte has done as much off the field as on especially with a Chance to Shine and helping bringing younger girls into the game. She even came to our offices around fourteen years ago and very ably showed up some the very capable men in front of our office in a corridor. I felt best keeping out of it and not embarrassing myself...

Recent reports since Charlotte announced her retirement have suggested that ultimately her dream of women becoming professional saw the end of her remarkable tenure as batsman and captain. I find it a shame that she could not have a better exit but maybe the captain is only in charge on the field and that, as professionals, results are perhaps these days demanded more than expected. Only time will tell how much she will be missed..

CHARLOTTE EDWARDS IN FIGURES

TEST CRICKET

	Matches	Inns	NO	Runs	Highest	Average	100	50	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Best	Average
As player	23	43	5	1676	117	44.10	4	9	186.2	38	577	12	2-28	48.08
As captain	10	20	4	676	114*	42.25	2	3	50.1	10	141	3	2-34	47.00

ODIs

	Matches	Inns	NO	Runs	Highest	Average	100	50	0	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Best	Average
As player	191	180	23	5992	173*	38.16	9	46	16	271	17	1169	54	4-30	21.65
As captain	117	107	16	3523	138	38.71	5	28	9	222.2	12	978	14	4-30	23.85

T20

	Matches	Inns	NO	Runs	Highest	Average	100	50	0	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Best	Average
As player	95	93	14	2605	92*	32.97	0	12	3	50.3	0	330	9	3-21	36.67
As captain	93	91	14	2529	92*	32.84	0	12	3	46.3	0	295	9	3-21	32.77

TOTALS

	Matches	Inns	NO	Runs	Highest	Average	100	50	0	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Best	Average
As player	309	316	42	10273	173*	37.49	13	67	19	507.5	55	2076	75	4-30	27.68
As captain	220	218	34	6728	138	36.56	7	43	12	319	22	1414	53	4-30	26.67

CHARLOTTE EDWARDS CAPTAINCY RECORD

	Played	Won	Lost	Draws	Tied	No result
Tests	10	2	4	4	0	0
ODIs	117	72	38	0	0	7
T20s	93	68	23	0	1	1
Totals	220	142	65	4	1	8