ECB announces women's regional T20 competition to be named Charlotte Edwards Cup

The ECB's new regional domestic women's T20 competition for England and Wales has been named the Charlotte Edwards Cup ahead of its launch on Saturday.

The move mirrors the decision to name the regional 50-over tournament after Rachael Heyhoe Flint, another trailblazer for the women's game. The T20 competition had initially been given the placeholder name "Women's Regional T20" but the ECB has decided to "connect the women's regional game with iconic figures in women's cricket".

Charlotte Edwards, who will coach the Southern Vipers in the competition, is England Women's most-capped player in all formats and their all-time leading run-scorer in T20I cricket, captaining them to the World T20 title in 2009. She also played in the first-ever T20 international, against New Zealand at Hove in 2004.

Clare Connor, England's director of women's cricket, said: "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.

"Lottie is a true legend of English cricket. She led from the front as a player and she's now giving back to the game as a coach, helping our domestic players have the best chance of potentially going on to represent the national side. The players who will compete in the Charlotte Edwards Cup can now realistically aspire to stepping up to compete on the international stage, and that's truly exciting."

Edwards, whose Vipers team won the inaugural Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy last summer, said it was a "huge honour" to have her name attached to the T20 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," she said.

"I hope, like we saw with the Rachael Heyhoe Flint [Trophy], that players from across the eight teams can continue to impress at regional level and push hard for international selection. The new domestic set-up is a real game-changer for women's cricket in this country and I'm really proud to be a part of it."