You could call her the Tendulkar of women's cricket. When you watch England's Charlotte Edwards in action, you know why.
One of women cricket's greatest ever batters announced her retirement from the international version on Thursday. Having played for over twenty years, she was arguably the most successful cricketer in the women's game.
In a tribute to one of their best, the England and Wales Cricket Board released a video to honour all her achievements (video above). Many of her statistics speak for themselves and hardly require context: a debut at the age of 16, most international appearances by any woman cricketer ever, most number of runs scored in the women's One Day International format, and the most runs scored in the Twenty20 format by any player (man or woman).
As captain, Edwards took the English team to triumph at the World Cup and the World Twenty20 in 2009. But her biggest achievement was her success in the historic Ashes series – which is played across Tests, ODIs and T20 games between England and Australia. Under Edwards's captaincy, England won the the Ashes first in 2008 and then, twice in succession in 2013 and 2014.
The 2014 triumph came on the back of a decisive captain's knock from Edwards. Chasing 151 in the first Twenty20 International, England speeded to a comfortable win and retained the Ashes, thanks to a fluent, brilliant unbeaten 92 from Edwards.
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