Charlotte Edwards Talks England'sTwenty20 Victory
25 June 2009
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Women's cricket is well as truly in the spotlight as Charlotte Edwards led England to victory at the Twenty20 World Cup at the weekend.
This victory comes hot on the heels of their World Cup success earlier this year and cements them as the driving force in women's cricket.
I caught up with Charlotte after their Twenty20 triumph to talk about the new image of the women's game and what lies ahead for the squad.
- Congratulations are in order after your World Twenty20 win! Now you have had a couple of days to take it in how do you feel?
Thank you very much. We are obviously delighted - to win an international tournament at the highest level of cricket is really special and something that the team were very proud of. We didn't think that it could get any better than the world cup, but it did on Sunday!
- You went into the tournament having just won the World Cup - what were you expecting to get out of the tournament? Did you think you could win?
I think we believed that we could win it but the Twenty20 format it's a bit more of a lottery in the sense that the teams all become closer together. But we believed that we could win and I guess that we peaked at the right time and that's crucial in that kind of competition.
- How was the final for you? Was it a slightly easier victory than you expected?
Perhaps, but we did bowl and field exceptionally well and I guess the game was slightly easier than we anticipated, though we won a world cup at the end of it and we would take that any day of the week! It was a great performance from the team.
- What do you think has been the driving force behind your recent success?
I think that we have got a great group of players and we are supported really well. We have got some great support staff and we have got a really good team around us and they have all played their part in making us successful.
- What is the feeling within the squad now as to where you can take English women's cricket?
We are all really confident and we are just looking forward to the Ashes this summer. I think it hasn't sunk in with a lot of the team yet. We are really focussed on the next part of the tour, but come July 13th we will be able to reflect on the summer and realise what an achievement it has all been.
- You are now at the forefront of women's cricket and raising the profile of the sport. How does that feel?
When I started playing for England I obviously wanted to be as successful as I could, but it goes further than that now. You realise that you are a role model and that we are promoting the game, and I hope that we can encourage more and more girls to play cricket through our success. That means more to us as a team than a lot of things that we have achieved recently.
- You started playing for England at the age of sixteen. How have attitudes changed towards the women’s game in that time?
It seems remarkable really in the years that I have been playing to finally get some recognition in the last few weeks. To have had some of our matches televised has been fantastic, especially as on those occasions we have played with a high degree of skill and quality.
It’s great to see the women’s game improve as it has done - people now recognise it as a really dynamic sport.
It’s fair to say that despite this success, as with many women’s sports, it is overshadowed by the men’s game.
- What do you think needs to been done to now push women’s cricket forward?
I think this is a big, big opportunity for us now having won the World Cup and the World Twenty20 and we have now got to capitalise on what we have achieved. The profile is there now, we have really got to kick on - and it’s got to be at grassroots level where we make an impact. Hopefully the next generation of England cricketers will come from that push.
- Sky Sports have really got behind you, showing the semi-final and the final of the Twenty20, and will be covering your One Day Internationals with Australia on the 29th and 30th of June. What impact has that had?
It’s had a huge impact! The amount of coverage that we’ve had has been unbelievable, and it’s through us being on TV that has gained us this high level of recognition. I hope that will continue
Sky have been brilliant, and hopefully we will be able to show more and more fixtures on TV and get more people coming to watch us, which is ultimately what we want to achieve from it all.
- Congratulations on being presented with an MBE earlier this month!
I’m very proud of the award, it wouldn’t have been possible without my team mates and the success that we have had together, so obviously I’m very grateful to them. It’s something I’m honoured to have received
- How did you get into cricket in the first place?
My dad, brother and uncle played, so it was kind of a natural thing for me to play cricket! It was something I started from a young age, and I still love every minute of it.
- You are also a coach in the Chance to Shine scheme. Can you tell me a bit about that?
For over a year now several members of the team have been on coaching contracts with Chance to Shine, which is a scheme that aims to get competitive cricket back into state schools.
I think it’s been a catalyst for us doing really well as it enables the girls to concentrate on their cricket when we don’t have fixtures by acting as role models and going into schools and coaching. It’s something that has worked really well, and hopefully more of the team will be able to get involved in the scheme in the future.
- You captain the England team, retained the Ashes in 2007, and have lead the team to victory in both the World Cup and the World Twenty20. What else do you want to achieve within the sport?
As much as possible! A lot of people have said, 'is this it for you now?' but it’s just the start; I think I’m at the peak of my game and loving every minute of it so it would be stupid to stop playing now.
There’s so much to achieve, hopefully we can be successful in the next three or four years. We have a few big tournaments coming up and now we’ve had a taste of success we just want to keep achieving.
- You barely have time to catch your breath before you have to defend your Ashes title - how excited are you about that?
It’s great because we have got something to focus on really quickly. We have five One Day Internationals and then the Ashes after that starting on the 10th of July, so it’s going to be a busy summer.
We are really confident that we can do well, but we are also aware that the Australians are on good form; we are expecting a good series with two well-matched teams.
- After the Ashes, what’s next for you?
A break! It’s been a really tough year, so come July the 13th I will be looking forward to a well-earned rest so I can recharge my batteries and get ready to go to India next February.
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