CHARLOTTE Edwards, the England Women s cricket captain from Pidley, has been named the Women s World Cricketer of the Year. Edwards, 28, was back in Huntingdonshire on Monday to visit family and friends after landing the most prestigious award in world cr

CHARLOTTE Edwards, the England Women's cricket captain from Pidley, has been named the Women's World Cricketer of the Year.

Edwards, 28, was back in Huntingdonshire on Monday to visit family and friends after landing the most prestigious award in world cricket from the International Cricket Council.

Edwards led England to a successful defence of the Ashes in 2007/08, and averaged more than 50 in 18 one-day internationals during the eligible period.

Despite playing only one test match in the qualifying period - in which she scored 94 and 14 - Edwards scored 492 ODI runs at an average of 54.66 and took 15 ODI wickets at an average of 19.03.

She told The Hunts Post: "It has been an exhausting season and a whirlwind 12 months for me and the whole England ladies' team.

"I was in the dark about the award, but myself and [fellow nominee] Claire Taylor had an inkling one of us had won when the organisers kept phoning us to make sure we would be there.

"I am looking forward to taking some off from the game and coming back fresh."

Last week Edwards had led England to a 4-0 victory in their ODI series against India.

Edwards beat Australia's Lisa Sthalekar, Nicola Browne of New Zealand and Taylor of England to the honour, which was handed out at the International Cricket Council's annual awards ceremony in Dubai on Wednesday evening (September 10).

Edwards told the assembled media: "This is a massive night for women's cricket. It's a huge honour for me to be involved with a ceremony like this - I'm so glad that the ICC is recognising the women's game.

"It's a big moment for the other girls who have been nominated for this and I am honoured to be included in that shortlist, let alone win it."

Edwards began her career with Huntingdonshire U13 when she was only 12 years old and said she still remembers her first game. Played at Kimbolton School against Hertfordshire, Edwards batted at number four and scored more than 20 runs.

She said: "I got a lot of chatter from the boys but it just made me try harder, I think it gave me a good grounding for what was to come.