# Charlotte Edwards Cup

The Charlotte Edwards Cup, initially named the Women's Regional T20, was an English and Welsh women's cricket Twenty20 domestic competition, held annually from 2021 to 2024. The tournament was named after England's former captain and most capped player, Charlotte Edwards. It featured eight teams, each representing a region that comprised multiple counties. The Cup was organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
The tournament replaced the Women's Cricket Super League, which ended in 2019. A regional T20 tournament was planned for 2020 but was cancelled in favour of the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy in the shortened 2020 season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2021, the Charlotte Edwards Cup ran alongside the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and The Hundred. In 2024, the Charlotte Edwards Cup had its last edition, and it was replaced in 2025 by the Women's T20 Blast.

## History

With the ending of the Women's Cricket Super League in 2019, the England and Wales Cricket Board intended to launch a new regional structure for domestic women's cricket in England and Wales, including a 50-over competition, a Twenty20 competition and The Hundred. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic shortened the 2020 season, only the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy was able to go ahead that season, with six new teams competing, plus Western Storm and Southern Vipers carried over from the WCSL, representing regional hubs.
In 2021, with a return to a full schedule, it was announced in February that the new Twenty20 competition would be called the Women's Regional T20, to run alongside the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and to be competed for by the same teams. Two days before the tournament began, it was renamed the Charlotte Edwards Cup, with the first edition of the tournament getting underway on 26 June, eventually being won by South East Stars.
The second edition of the tournament (2022) was won by Southern Vipers, who beat Central Sparks in the final. Vipers retained their title in 2023, beating The Blaze in the final by 7 wickets. The Blaze won the title the following year, defeating South East Stars in the final after topping the group stage.
2024's was the last edition of the competition as the ECB announced it would be replaced, due to another restructuring of women's domestic cricket in England and Wales. The ECB reversed the regionalised structure of the Charlotte Edwards Cup, and has replaced it with a new Women's T20 Blast using the county structure.

## Teams

The teams for the Charlotte Edwards Cup are as follows:
| Team | County partners | Home grounds (2023) | Captain |
| Central Sparks | Herefordshire Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire Worcestershire | Edgbaston, Birmingham New Road, Worcester | Evelyn Jones |
| Northern Diamonds | Durham Northumberland Yorkshire | Headingley Cricket Ground, Leeds Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street | Hollie Armitage |
| North West Thunder | Cheshire Cumbria Lancashire | Old Trafford, Manchester Stanley Park, Blackpool | Eleanor Threlkeld |
| South East Stars | Kent Surrey | County Ground, Beckenham The Oval, London St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury | Bryony Smith |
| Southern Vipers | Berkshire Buckinghamshire Dorset Hampshire Oxfordshire Sussex Isle of Wight Cricket Board | County Ground, Hove Rose Bowl, Southampton Falkland Cricket Club, Newbury | Georgia Adams |
| Sunrisers | Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire Essex Hertfordshire Huntingdonshire Middlesex Norfolk Northamptonshire Suffolk Marylebone Cricket Club | County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford County Ground, Northampton Lord's, London | Grace Scrivens |
| The Blaze | Derbyshire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire Loughborough University | Grace Road, Leicester County Ground, Derby Trent Bridge, Nottingham | Kirstie Gordon |
| Western Storm | Cornwall Devon Glamorgan Gloucestershire Somerset Wiltshire Cricket Wales | Bristol County Ground, Bristol County Ground, Taunton Sophia Gardens, Cardiff | Sophie Luff |

## Competition format

In 2021 and 2022, teams played each other home and away in their group. The two group winners and the best second-place team advanced to Finals Day. The best group winner advanced straight to the final, whilst the other two teams played off in a semi-final. In 2023, teams played in one group of eight, playing each other team in the group once, with the top team in the group advancing directly to the final, whilst the second and third-placed teams play off in the semi-final. The tournament expanded again ahead of the 2024 season, with teams playing ten group stage matches and four teams qualifying for Finals Day, with two semi-finals and a final.
Teams receive 4 points for a win. A bonus point is given where the winning team's run rate is 1.25 or greater times that of the opposition. In case of a tie in the standings, the following tiebreakers are applied in order: highest net run rate, team that scored the most points in matches involving the tied parties, better bowling strike rate, drawing of lots.

## Tournament results

List of Charlotte Edwards Cup winners :
| Season | Winner | Runners-up | Final Venue | Player (club) | Runs | Player (club) | Wickets |
| Season | Winner | Runners-up | Final Venue | Leading run-scorer | Leading run-scorer | Leading wicket-taker | Leading wicket-taker | Notes |
| 2021 | South East Stars | Northern Diamonds | Rose Bowl, Southampton | Evelyn Jones (Central Sparks) | 276 | Bryony Smith (South East Stars) | 14 |
| 2022 | Southern Vipers | Central Sparks | County Ground, Northampton | Amy Jones (Central Sparks) | 289 | Katie Levick (Northern Diamonds) | 15 |
| 2023 | Southern Vipers | The Blaze | New Road, Worcester | Danni Wyatt (Southern Vipers) | 273 | Nadine de Klerk (The Blaze) | 15 |
| 2024 | The Blaze | South East Stars | County Ground, Derby | Kathryn Bryce (The Blaze) | 478 | Kirstie Gordon (The Blaze) | 22 |