“One thing I do know, I can’t take on any more teams!” Charlotte Edwards has her coaching hands more than brimming as head coach of Mumbai Indians, Sydney Sixers, Southern Brave and Hampshire (formerly Southern Vipers). If she wasn’t busy enough – “People think I must be mad, but I want to make a difference whilst I’ve still got the energy” – the former England captain has also just launched a foundation in her own name that seeks to help female cricketers in “under-served communities”.
After 30 minutes of discussion about the state of the women’s game at home and abroad and her thoughts on that disastrous Ashes campaign we get round to the elephant on the phone line. Edwards chooses her words carefully, conscious that the Australian dirt is still spattered with England’s blood and the dust of the fallout far from settled.
“It should never have been 16-0” she laments. “England have got some talented players but it’s been really sad to watch how things have unfolded over the last six weeks, especially knowing a lot of the people involved.”
Edwards does eventually admit that it would be hard to turn down a position with England should the opportunity arise. “I’m absolutely loving doing what I’m doing at the moment, working across the world and running four different sides … But, look, it is an ambition of mine to coach England and I’ve made that very public. I’d love to do that. I don’t really want to say any more than that because they have a whole process to go through.”
Clare Connor, managing director of England women’s cricket, stated this month that there would be an “honest review” into England’s capitulation down under, and no doubt the roles of Jon Lewis and as coach and Heather Knight as captain will be under the magnifying glass. Edwards is keen to be a part of the review and thinks there are plenty of “quick wins” to be had.
“I feel like I’ve got a lot of knowledge, I’ve been involved in the English system and other systems around the world and I just want to help get English cricket back to where I know they can be.”
During Edwards’s 20-year England playing career, she captained the side for 11 years with a string of successes, including four Ashes series wins and bagging both 50- and 20-over World Cups. She felt like her world had been “turned upside down” when she was in effect sacked as England captain by the then head coach, Mark Robinson, in 2016.
Connor, her predecessor in the role, informed her of the decision and Knight took over the captaincy. Edwards decided, albeit with a heavy heart, to step away from international cricket. She retired from playing in 2018 and has enjoyed a gilded coaching career since, winning the inaugural Women’s Premier League with Mumbai Indians and the Hundred with Southern Brave.
“I’ve learnt so much in the last five years,” she says. “I’ve had some wonderful opportunities which I’ve absolutely loved getting stuck into. I do get to work with a lot of the England players through different franchises and that’s such a great part of my role but the development side of it I love as well, nurturing new talent coming through.”
Edwards is articulate and unflinching in her assessments of what went wrong for England and what needs to happen next. That includes England players playing more domestic cricket to build up experience and game awareness, wilting in high pressure situations being a consistent failure in the Ashes hiding.
“I also think it would create more competition for places and help the England team become stronger because you’re seeing the best people playing against the best people, week in, week out.”
On the criticism that shrouded the Ashes and its aftermath, Edwards is equally forthright. “I’ve never seen the media scrutinise the team as much but I absolutely agree with the amount of scrutiny they were under. It should be the same as the men’s team.
“In the women’s game, they just aren’t used to that level of scrutiny because it’s never happened before. We’ve never been to Australia and done that badly, of course that means that questions are asked of the team and the setup.”
The farrago when Sophie Ecclestone refused to be interviewed by Alex Hartley is given short shrift: “You know that will never happen again. The players have to understand why we’re getting paid more money is because of the TV rights and that’s part of our obligation as professional cricketers to actually go and do those interviews. We have to do them and be prepared for the tough questions.”
Edwards feels for Knight, her successor with the captain’s armband. “She will have taken this to heart more than anyone and I know that for a fact because I’ve been there and done the job.”
She also believes that after nine years at the helm, Knight could take inspiration from a male former counterpart. “There’s a great comparison there with Joe Root. He went back into the ranks and took his game to another level, I could absolutely see Heather doing that.”
It is a mark of Edwards’s passion for cricket that she has now been talking for an hour about all aspects of the game, late into the Indian night after a full day of training with Mumbai Indians and with another now just hours away. “I do really care about the England team: you don’t play for 20 years, just hang up your boots and forget about it. It’s in my blood. I care enormously. It’s been hard to watch but I don’t think it’s as big a job to sort out as people think.”
