The very fact that Charlotte Edwards announced her retirement from international cricket sitting at the historic Lord’s Cricket Ground on Wednesday was an achievement in itself. For when she had made her debut, at the ripe old age of 16 in 1996, women were not even allowed inside the historic Long Room at the so-called Home of Cricket.

In 1996, Edwards was a young and promising English cricketer, but her only disadvantage lay in the fact that she was a woman. It was a time when women’s cricket remained eons away from the professional status it enjoys now. Back then it was considered an amateur pastime and nothing else.

Not that any of this stopped her. Edwards played with the boys first and then moved up to the senior women’s team. She hit a century in only her second match in One-Day Internationals against South Africa in 1997. And, all the while, she had to fend for herself.

“‘I started playing in a skirt and I had to pay for my own blazer”, admitted Edwards at her tearful retirement press conference, giving an idea of where the game was when she started playing it.

The champion who just wanted to play

But the only thing this young woman from Cambridgeshire wanted was to play cricket. And as she went on simply playing the game, ratcheting up runs, breaking records, she was quietly sending across a message to cricket’s largely male custodians – the women’s game had to be noticed.

Without doubt, Charlotte Edwards is among the most successful batters and captains of her generation. Her prolific run-making ability apart – her tally of 5,992 runs comfortably makes her the highest run-scorer in the history of women’s ODI cricket – it was when she was catapulted to the hot seat that she put her stamp on the game.

In 2005, Edwards was given charge of the England women’s cricket team. What followed was an unprecedented triple success – England won the Ashes in 2008, the World Cup in 2009 and the first-ever Women’s World Twenty20 in the same year.

Ironically, despite her efforts, state recognition was forthcoming but professionalism remained a fleeting dream. Edwards became a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2009, thanks to her sterling work with the English cricket team.

But in her own quiet way, Edwards was doing her bit, not just for the cause of the women’s game in her native United Kingdom, but across the cricketing world. As tales of her achievements spread, she became women cricket’s first modern superstar. People marvelled at her feats, travelled to watch her play, and cheered with and for her. Almost single-handedly, she pushed women’s cricket into the spotlight.

The triumph of professionalism

But it was only in her last few playing years that she achieved her greatest triumph. Under her captaincy, England won the Ashes again, not once but two consecutive times, in 2013 and 2014. (The Ashes had by now been expanded to include ODIs and T20 matches between England and Australia, along with Tests.) And as the nation celebrated, the England and Wales Cricket Board finally announced on May 6, 2014 that 18 women players would be given professional contracts.

It was what she had wanted. In reply to a question about her proudest moment, she confirmed that her personal record did not count much for her. “I didn't have a female role model growing up, a cricketer, so to think I've done that is really special to me,” she noted.

When the curtains came down on her career, it came in a way she may not have anticipated. After a crushing loss against Australia in the semi-finals of the Women's World Twenty20 this year in March, England coach Sam Robson slammed the fitness of England’s players and declined to confirm his endorsement of Edwards as captain.

It was a sign of times to come. At the Press Conference on Wednesday, Edwards confirmed that the coach had told her she had been sacked as captain. It was a decision she accepted without argument. “I was comfortable with the captaincy decision,” she said.

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But a double blow awaited her: Edwards revealed she was informed that she did not figure in the England team’s future plans. This ultimately precipitated her retirement from international cricket. “There was a real hunger to carry on as a player. But it's not to be,” said the rueful former English captain, struggling to wipe tears from her eyes.

Still, once the initial shock that she will no longer be playing international cricket wears off, Charlotte Edwards will look back on her two-decade long career and have plenty of reasons to be proud. She will go on to play in the English Women’s Super League and the Australian Big Bash, tournaments which would have been unthinkable when she started out.

Women’s cricket has come a long way and Charlotte Edwards’s magnificence has a lot to do with it.