The Surfer

Woman on a winning run

English cricket is riding a tide of success, but it's the women, not the men, taking home the trophies

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English cricket is riding a tide of success, but it's the women, not the men, taking home the trophies. Captain Charlotte Edwards welcomes the challenge - and the long overdue recognition. The Guardian's Emine Saner meets her:

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This 29-year-old batsman (batswoman sounds weird, doesn't it?) can't remember cricket ever not being a part of her life. Her father, a potato farmer, and her uncle both played for clubs in Cambridgeshire, where she grew up, and she remembers watching at the boundary edge with her brother when she was three. "My mum would be there making the teas, and the choice was either help make the tea or play cricket. Cricket became my life." She practised in the garden with her brother and father, and was encouraged to play at primary school. She was lucky that her secondary school took cricket so seriously, a rarity in state schools; she was the only girl on the team and became captain. "Those days were brilliant. The boys had grown up with me and I was treated like one of them. I didn't get any special treatment."

England

Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo