Speaking on Sky's Daggers and Lyds podcast, Charlotte Edwards was full of praise for 20-year-old Issy Wong, calling her hat-trick for Mumbai Indians "my highlight of the WPL... if there's anyone that was made for that occasion, it was Issy Wong"
Wednesday 29 March 2023 22:29, UK
Charlotte Edwards says Issy Wong's Women's Premier League hat-trick is proof the England youngster is made for the big occasion.
Speaking as a guest on the Sky Sports Cricket Daggers and Lyds podcast, Mumbai Indians coach Edwards picked out Wong's special feat in the play-off against UP Warriorz as her highlight of the competition.
Edwards' side went on to win the inaugural tournament, thanks in part to three more Wong wickets in the final against Delhi Capitals.
"That's why we signed her," said Edwards, whose record 309 England caps are a long way off for 20-year-old Londoner Wong, who made her international debut in all three formats in 2022. "I knew she was totally capable of doing that.
"I'd watched her play in the little amount she has for England, but also in regional cricket, and if there's anyone that was made for that occasion, it was Issy Wong.
"I just knew it. That night, I knew she'd get a hat-trick, I said to Lyds [Lydia Greenway]: 'She's gonna get this', because she kept looking at the stumps like she was going to bowl her.
"The crowd, the noise, it was probably my highlight of the WPL, that moment where she got the hat-trick.
"Because to see her reaction, and though the game wasn't necessarily in the balance, we needed to get Navgire out, and she [Wong] just transformed that game within three balls. And we obviously knew then we'd won that game.
"The atmosphere was unbelievable."
Greenway added: "I think the other thing with Issy, is that you often see players who are made or broken in front of big crowds, and pressure situations, and they either go one way or the other.
"Even in our first game, she came out last in most, she just clubbed it for six, and then ran off bowling. You can just see by the way she carries herself, she wants to be in the key moments.
"There was another game she got cramp, but was still happy to bowl the last over.
"She's got brilliant characteristics, and I'm sure from watching from home, by the way she carries herself, that she's one for the future."
Edwards captained her country on 220 occasions and led them to a 50-over and T20 World Cup double in 2009 as well as three Ashes series wins.
Since retiring from playing in 2017, she has been a hugely-successful coach, with her stint in charge of Mumbai the latest in a number of high-profile roles in white-ball franchise tournaments.
Listen to more from her on the Daggers and Lyds podcast, including her reflections on winning the WPL, what it's like to coach in a different country with Lyds at her side and how The Hundred draft has played out for the Southern Brave.
Domestically, the 43-year-old Edwards led the Southern Vipers to two Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy titles and one Charlotte Edwards Cup success, while she also coached Southern Brave to back-to-back Hundred finals. Last winter, she led Sydney Sixers to the final of the Women's Big Bash League after a record 11 wins in the group stage.
But while those finals with the Brave and Sixers ended in defeat, Edwards led Mumbai to a seven-wicket win over Delhi Capitals in Sunday's WPL title clash.
"I am over the moon," Edwards said. "It is up there as one of my greatest moments in cricket.
"It's been an unbelievable group, they've stuck together, they have gelled brilliantly, and some strong friendships have built through this tournament. It has been amazing to be around."
Edwards added: "I'm going to have to pinch myself. To think that we've achieved this in the first year, it's pretty special.
"I'm just enormously proud of what we've achieved over the last month with this group. A lot of hard work has gone in and the players have really responded to everything that we've asked of them.
"I've had a wonderful coaching group to work with. We've been a real team. It was an emotional moment in the dugout with the support staff.
"I didn't really want the tournament to end because we've had so much fun along the way.
"That's what we've talked about a lot: having lots of fun, enjoying each other's company and playing some really competitive cricket, which we've done. It's been a wonderful experience."
Edwards' WPL success is only going to aid the notion that she is a future England coach in waiting.
After the departure of Lisa Keightley as head coach last summer, Edwards initially expressed some interest in taking on the role before later ruling herself out, telling Sky Sports in September: "I don't think it's for me right now."
"I'm really happy doing what I'm doing," she added. "It just feels at the moment potentially that I've got the best of everything... And I guess I've got quite a long time to coach England. I'm still quite young - well I think I am.
"I feel like I'm really developing and so, yeah, I'd probably need someone to contact me and talk to me about it. But I'm definitely sort of happy where I am and I'll continue to do what I'm doing."
The England job ultimately went to former men's bowling coach Jon Lewis, who took over in November and impressed many with the attacking approach he instilled in the side during their run to the T20 World Cup semi-finals in February.
Following her spell with Sydney in the Women's BBL over the winter, Edwards was hired by Mumbai for the WPL and, based on her first experience, she believes the tournament is a game-changer for the women's game.
"It's massive for the women's game, this tournament," Edwards said.
"When I got to my phone [following the final], I think I had about 160 messages. That just shows you the reach of this tournament already.
"It's probably going to be the biggest thing to happen to women's cricket, the WPL.
"To start it in the fashion we've done, to see the crowds we've had and witness it all is, for us, is something I won't forget."
