PIDLEY-born England cricket captain Charlotte Edwards has been labelled an inspiration by her country team mate Sarah Taylor.

PIDLEY-born England cricket captain Charlotte Edwards has been labelled an inspiration by her country team mate Sarah Taylor.

Edwards, 31, guided the Three Lions to Twenty20 quadrangular series glory over Australia on Monday and has also become the first woman to pass 1,000 runs in that form of the game.

Wicket-keeper Taylor said of Edwards: “She is just a phenomenal player.

“I remember watching her as a child and wanting to be her, I suppose, and wanting to bat how she does.

“It still shocks me sometimes when I’m at the non-strikers end watching her bat and I forget to run. She’s just fantastic – such a great leader.

“She is phenomenal within this England side and I’d say she’s probably the heartbeat of the side.”

Edwards captained England to a 16-run victory over old rivals Australia at the Rose Bowl on Monday to lift the quadrangular series trophy.

But it was her knock of 40 not out in an eight-wicket thrashing of New Zealand in the opening game of the series last Thursday that took her to the run milestone.

She is also only the second person – male or female – to bring up 1,000 runs in the Twenty20 form of the game, with only Brendan McCullum of New Zealand on the men’s side to have passed that barrier.

Edwards then recorded knocks of 43 and six in wins over Australia and India over the weekend before getting out for 21 in the final.

On their final triumph on Monday, which goes some way to easing the pain of surrendering their World Twenty20 crown to the Aussies last year, Edwards said: “It’s always great to win trophies like this.

“It has been a great day and I’m really proud of the team, as we’ve all worked hard for this.

“We have a great mix of players in the squad at the moment, some of the youngsters are really stepping up to the mark.

“It was fantastic to play in front of such good crowds during the series – the players enjoy it – and it’s great for the profile of the women’s game.”

England now move on to the longer form of the one-day game for a quadrangular series with the same nations and, first up, are India at Derby tomorrow.

“We won’t be resting on our laurels as we move into the 50-over series, but we will take this momentum with us,” Edwards said.

“Our target is to win both trophies and the team are really hungry for that.”