The regional women’s T20 tournament in England, kicking odd this weekend has been remanded as Charlotte Edwards Cup, in honour of one of the most famous and celebrated Women cricketers of England, Charlotte Edwards.
The eight women's regional teams in Central Sparks, Loughborough Lightning, NW Thunder, Northern Diamonds, South East Stars, Southern Vipers, Sunrisers, Western Storm, will play against each other. The tournament running across two months begins on June 26th with the clash between Loughborough Lightning and South East Stars at Trent Bridge.
The first day would see all eight teams in action. The Semi-Finals and Final would be played on September 5th, the venue for which is still to be decided.
Edwards, who is England Women's most-capped player and who captained her country from 2006-2016, winning three Ashes, an ICC Women's World Cup and an ICC Women's T20 World Cup, also leads the charts in most runs scored by an English Women in T20Is (2605 runs). Overall, the 41-year-old has amassed 10,273 runs in her 309 matches long career across three formats.
Earlier last year, the 50 over regional women’s competition was named after another great Rachael Heyhoe Flint.
"There are numerous individuals who have served English cricket with distinction who we could have chosen, but we felt with Lottie's relevance to the T20 game and her excellence as a player in the international T20 format, it was most fitting for the competition to take her name,” ECB Managing Director of Women's Cricket, Clare Connor, said on this occasion.
Edwards, who is now involved in coaching young domestic players, said, "It's a huge honour to have my name attached to the competition. The regional players who'll take part in the competition are at the beginning of such an exciting journey, and the pathway has progressed and developed so far since I was in their position.”