England skipper Charlotte Edwards hails growth of women in cricket
Thursday 4 June 2015 14:24, UK
England cricket captain Charlotte Edwards admits the growth and acceptance of women in cricket has made the game ‘unrecognisable’ from the one she started playing many years ago.
Edwards made her debut for England aged 16 and has since gone on to skipper her country on more than 200 occasions, winning the World Cup and T20 World Cup, as well as three Ashes Series against Australia.
The 35-year-old was the first player - male or female - to reach 2,000 T20 international runs and was one of the first batch of England cricketers to receive central contracts back in 2014.
“The game is unrecognisable to the game I started playing,” Edwards told Sky Sports News HQ. “I had to play boys' cricket.
“Girls now get the opportunity to play girls cricket at school. Cricket is very much normalised within school now with both girls and boys playing it.
“Perception of the game has changed enormously over the time I have been playing and it is great to see so many clubs having girls and women’s sections as well now.”
Edwards joined Paul Collingwood, Chris Woakes and current England Test star Jos Buttler at Wimbledon Cricket Club for a Royal London grassroots cricket celebration, offering youngsters the chance to play at Lord’s this summer.
She believes women have also made huge strides in the men’s game recently, building on the success of former England U21 cricketer Elizabeth Wild, who scored a century in a men’s Two Counties Championship match five years ago.
“Recently our opening bowler Kate Cross performed really well in the Lancashire League and a young girl called Cat Dodds scored 100 in the Essex League as well,” Edwards said.
“There are so many women performing not just at women’s level but at men’s level as well now and it’s great to see some good publicity around that as well.”
