What England’s ODI approach reveals about Charlotte Edwards’ plans

England (345/6) beat West Indies (237 all out) by 108 runs

Photo Credit: England Cricket

“My main focus is going to be the 50 over game – understanding a blueprint that’s going to be successful for us in the World Cup in India. Instilling that really quickly. Drip feeding that to counties to say this is how we want to play as an England team, so I think there are some real quick fixes here and that’s what excites me the most. I don’t think it’s a big overhaul, it’s just some fine tuning and I think hopefully we’ll all be back on track.” Charlotte Edwards, interviewed on Sky Sports on 1st April 2025

Charlotte Edwards’ first ODI as coach revealed some notable changes in approach from the past. Here are my top 5 observations on the back of the first ODI.

1. Edwards values county form over everything else

This was a side picked not on reputation nor on historic achievements, but on selecting players who have performed best for their counties over the past five weeks. This is the major criterion that Charlotte Edwards mentioned when she was unveiled as coach on 1st April. The result has been ODI débuts yesterday for 27-year-old Em Arlott and 30-year-old Linsey Smith. 

Just five weeks? Isn’t that a bit short-sighted?

It is also worth noting that Edwards is not making these decisions in a vacuum. She is possibly the world’s number one expert in English domestic women’s cricket. She has watched both these players closely for at least five years and knows everything about them. In Smith’s case she was her captain (in 2016) and coach (since 2023) at Southern Vipers and, just as significantly for both of them, she knew them as an opposing players when Smith was at Northern Diamonds and Arlott at Central Sparks.

Their form over the last five weeks has cemented her view that these players can be part of England’s future success. Their ages are also significant. They come into the side as more complete players. They bring experience, but also hunger, having previously being given little opportunity. The result? Arlott was player of the match on her second T20 appearance at Hove, Smith took five wickets on ODI début. 

2. Edwards is a psychological tactician

Cricket is a technical game involving skill, strength and stamina. However, if your head isn’t right, none of those things matter. Amy Jones is perhaps the best example of this. She is one of the most skilled cricketers to have ever played the game. As a wicket-keeper, her hand-eye coordination is mesmerising. As a batter, she hits the ball cleanly and effortlessly, with wonderful timing to all parts of the ground. 

And yet after 190 international innings, spanning over 12 years, she had never made a century for England. On top of this, there have been some key moments over the last few years when Jones has come in to bat in a high-pressure situation for England and has failed to deliver: the 2023 World Cup final, the 2022 Commonwealth Games semi-final, the Ashes ODI at Melbourne in January this year. She is a brilliant player who gets overwhelmed by nerves and anxiety at crucial moments. An over-thinker who is instinctively brilliant, but becomes paralysed when having to make difficult choices. 

So, what does Lottie do with her? She asks her to open the batting. Why? At this point in any innings, the team does not need rescuing. Her role is clear and will never change: stay in as long as possible and build a solid platform. Alongside her is Tammy Beaumont – a positive and chirpy extrovert who will encourage her, chat with her and allow Jones, an introvert and a worrier, to express herself freely. They also open the batting together for their county, The Blaze, so everything is familiar.

The result? Jones scored her first ever international century at the 191st attempt. The only time she betrayed nerves and anxiety was as she got in the 90s. She then offered two caught and bowled chances, which she was very fortunate to get away with. Intriguingly, as she smashed the ball to the extra cover boundary to bring up three figures, Beaumont celebrated on her behalf, punching the air and embracing her teammate. Jones simply removed her helmet and looked like a prisoner blinking in the daylight after being released from twelve years of torment. It feels that this innings has opened up a whole new world of possibility for Jones, with a role she understands and can deliver in for England on a regular basis.

And this is the genius of Edwards. Every player to her is a puzzle to be solved, a jigsaw piece to be shaped and put into the bigger picture. Jones’ innings was like a symbol of everything Charlotte Edwards’ approach is bringing to this England team.

3. Jonball is dead

England’s approach to 50 over cricket was demonstrated perfectly in Tammy Beaumont’s innings. She was so patient. She left the ball. She defended. She was constantly and cautiously making judgments about the merit of every ball under the slate-grey skies of Derby. She was building an innings and clearly planned to bat for a very long time. The only people she was inspiring and entertaining were cricket purists who love a good leave. Amy Jones was a little bit more expansive, but the overall scoring rate went from 3.2 after 5 overs to 4.5 after 10 overs and did not reach 5 an over until the 28th over. At this point, Beaumont had scored 54 and Jones had scored 80. Then Tammy Beaumont went through the gears, swiping and (quite literally) leaping her way to three figures before Jones did. The final 22 overs produced 204 runs at just over 9 per over. The fact that cautious batting had kept wickets in hand was crucial to the ability to do this.

England ended up on 345/6. It was a higher total than any scored during Jon Lewis’s tenure (in case you’re interested their highest score in that era was 320 against Ireland, a match at which the coach was not in attendance – if you want to count only matches attended by the coach it was 307 against West indies in December 2022). England have only exceeded this total twice since winning the ODI World Cup in 2017. On both those occasions (September 2021 v New Zealand and July 2022 v South Africa) Tammy Beaumont scored a century to provide the bedrock of England’s total. Coincidence? I think not!

4. England are still a work in progress

Before we get carried away, there are a lot of things for the coach to work on before the World Cup begins in September. England’s fielding will need to be sharper when playing against top teams where small margins will count. England’s bowling needs to be more clinical. After the fall of West Indies 5th wicket, their tailenders added 89 more runs in 18 overs. In this match it didn’t matter, but in a World Cup against a better team, those runs could be the difference between winning and losing. Emma Lamb, usually an opening batter, looked a little lost joining the action in the 36th over. She walked when given out to a decision which one suspects should have been reviewed, because there did not appear to be bat involved – again these are fine margins which England need to address.

5. We need to talk about Sophie

Ecclestone is a great player. Where does she fit into this England team? Lindsey Smith took five wickets on ODI début. Surely there is room for Ecclestone in this England team, but at the expense of whom? When playing against India and Australia in a World Cup in India, she is the bowler that those teams will fear the most. It is for Edwards to find a way of getting the right combination for every game. However, it is obvious that Linsey Smith will definitely have a big role in the games this summer and in the World Cup. Could that be alongside or could it be in place of Sophie Ecclestone?