Charlotte Edwards to play for Southern Vipers in Kia Super League
Tuesday 26 July 2016 14:06, UK
England captain Charlotte Edwards will play for the Southern Vipers after the ECB confirmed player allocations for the inaugural Kia Super League.
Each of the six teams in the tournament will have at least three members of the England Women's Performance Squad, with the Yorkshire Diamonds and Loughborough Lightning being allocated four.
The tournament will be played on a round-robin basis over 16 days from July 30, with finals day taking place in Chelmsford on August 21.
The six teams, who will take part in the tournament on a four-year cycle through 2019, will also compete in a 50-over tournament but that will not begin this summer.
Edwards will be joined on the Southern Vipers team by Kent team-mates Natasha Farrant and Lydia Greenway.
"With three or four England players, plus three overseas players, per squad the standard of the Kia Super League is going to be very high; exactly what's needed to take our game forwards," Edwards said.
"I'm really excited and happy to be a Southern Viper. The Ageas Bowl is somewhere that I've always enjoyed playing and I have particularly fond memories of winning the Women's Ashes there in 2013.
"I've also done a lot of work in the area with the Hampshire Cricket Board and Chance to Shine, so it's somewhere that I already feel really at home. I cannot wait to play there as a Viper this summer."
Their first opponents, on July 31 at the Ageas Bowl, will be the Surrey Stars who feature Natalie Sciver, Laura Marsh and hard-hitting opener Tammy Beaumont.
The Yorkshire Diamonds will be able to call on opening bowler Katherine Brunt, as well as Lauren Winfield, Danielle Hazell and Jenny Gunn.
They take on the Loughborough Lightning at Headingley in the opening match of the tournament, with the Lightning able to call on Rebecca Grundy, Georgia Elwiss, Amy Jones and Beth Langston.
England vice-captain Heather Knight will lead the Western Storm, who can also include Somerset's Anya Shrubsole and middle-order bat Fran Wilson.
They kick off their season at Taunton on July 31 with a match against the Lancashire Thunder, whose trio of England players are Manchester-born Kate Cross, all-rounder Danielle Wyatt and wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor.
