Edwards surprises herself as England reaches for the skies
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Everyone watching Charlotte Edwards’s batting in England’s ICC Women’s World Twenty20 2009 victory over India on Thursday was left rubbing their eyes in disbelief – including Edwards herself.
Edwards capped a fine player-of-the-match performance at Taunton by cracking an unbeaten 61 not out off 53 balls which included two sixes and 36 in boundaries.
The second, a lofted pick-up over mid-wicket, carried a full 70 yards.
“I can’t believe I hit two sixes today. I don’t normally do that,” said Edwards with a laugh. “But it’s a good wicket – my sort of wicket. You can go for your shots.”
The 29-year-old, who put on an unbeaten 113 with Sarah Taylor in the 10-wicket Group B mauling, is a classical right-hander with a full array of textbook shots. She made her England debut at 16 and took over the England captaincy from Clare Connor in 2006.
England’s coaches have been urging the team’s front-line batters not to be frightened of hitting in the air early in an attempt to exploit the T20 fielding restrictions.
“Our coach Mark Lane told us to go out there and go for our shots – but genuine cricket shots. I think that’s what Sarah and I do,” added Edwards.
Her innings took her Twenty20 International average to 61, the best in the world.
One man who was not surprised by the Edwards and Taylor show, however, was Lane himself.
“I know what our batters can do, so that was no real surprise really. But I loved seeing it.
“It’s been more a case of getting them to replicate what they do in training which has been the issue.
“We were really pleased because it’s been a conscious effort to hit up and over the top to put immediate pressure on the fielders. The fact that the girls were smacking the ball for six was fantastic.
“They played cricket shots – that’s what Jack and I want the girls to do. Shot selection is the whole art of batting and they did it brilliantly.”
England next plays Sri Lanka on Sunday. India, still fancied to progress to the semi-finals from the four-team group, plays Pakistan on Saturday.
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The ICC World Twenty20 2009 involves 12 of the top men’s teams and the top eight women’s line-ups playing at four venues – Lord’s, The Oval, Trent Bridge and Taunton – in the pinnacle of international cricketing action.
The defending men’s champion is India, which beat Pakistan in the final of the inaugural event, in South Africa in 2007. This is the first staging of the women’s tournament.
A limited number of tickets are still available for the ICC World Twenty20 2009. Further details can be found at:https://eticketing.co.uk/iccwt20
