Edwards announces retirement from professional cricket
Charlotte Edwards announced her retirement from professional cricket on Friday (September 1) shortly after her side, Southern Vipers, lost the final of the Women's Super League to Western Storm.
Edwards has played for over two decades for England Women, the last ten years of which she was captain before she subsequently quit international cricket. She remains England's most capped player, with 23 Tests, 191 One-Day Internationals and 95 Twenty20 Internationals to her name.
Her last act was as the Vipers captain, slamming 20 off eight balls, which ultimately was not enough as Storm completed a seven-wicket win. In the inaugural edition of the WSL in 2016, she led the Vipers to the title over the same opposition.
“I don’t want to walk away from the game altogether,” said Edwards after the defeat. “From this format, my time is done. I want to pursue other things: coaching, media work and it just felt right this season. I kind of knew at the start. It was made certain in the middle. My body has given up on me now.”
Edwards has done commentary stints with both Sky Sports and BBC Sport and was involved in the coverage of the 2017 Women's World Cup. More recently, she assisted the USA women's team in a coaching camp, and hopes to be play a similar role with the England youngsters.
“I’ve spoken to the ECB about doing some work there," she revealed. "I’ve spoken to Mark Robinson (England Women coach) and I’d like to get involved with the junior age groups and helping a lot of this good talent we have in England at the moment.”
Along with four Women's Ashes series wins, England has won the Women's World Cup and Women's World T20 in 2009 under Edwards's leadership. As proud as she is of those feats, England's Women's World Cup win in July and witnessing how the tournament has raised the profile of the women's game have given Edwards a deep sense of satisfaction.
"To be perfectly honest, year on year it (women's cricket) surprises me,” she said. "To be at Lord’s this summer (for the Women’s World Cup Final) in front of 26,000 people, I never believed in my lifetime that I’d see that. I’m hoping the youngsters grab hold of all the opportunities they have because it’s just wonderful. I can sit back and watch them and hopefully help them along the way. I’ve got memories that will serve me a lifetime and I feel incredibly lucky to have played in the era that I played.”