Women's Hundred: Charlotte Edwards on her coaching styles & philosophy

Charlotte Edwards and Anya Shrubsole have led Southern Brave to The Hundred final

Wherever there's success in women's cricket, there's a strong chance Charlotte Edwards is behind it.

The Southern Brave coach has guided her team into this weekend's women's Hundred final as she bids to add yet another honour to her already long list of successes.

Edwards has a knack for first-up successes having won the inaugural Kia Super League as a player in 2016, while she coached the Southern Vipers to the first Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy last summer.

Young journalist Evie Ashton has followed Southern Brave as a part of the ECB's Hundred Rising Reporter programme and got the chance to sit down with the England legend and uncover the secrets behind 'The Charlotte Edwards effect' and how her team will prepare ahead of the Lord's final this Saturday.

What has been key to Brave's group-stage dominance?

Edwards puts a high tariff on consistency and ensuring a familiar environment that allows her players to perform at their best.

"As a coach you have got to be really consistent in the way you prepare, the way you review games, the way you talk to players, and you can't get too up and down winning or losing," said Edwards, who revealed it was important consistency goes beyond the squad.

"A lot of the players knew the bowling coach, the batting coach, the physio, the strength and conditioning coach and me really well. So it was quite a seamless transition.

"Being really clear on our plan has given the players great clarity. If they are thinking about a million other things then they're not going to execute what they need to do."

Edwards said ensuring a team environment for a group of players, and a club, that had never played together before was crucial to set them up.

"I gelled the group really well and I knew that was going to be important coming into a new competition, that you already felt like you were part of a team," she said.

What has her previous experience brought to Southern Brave?

Edwards' 20-year international career has given her a huge amount of empathy for those playing at the highest level.

Most significantly she understands The Hundred has suddenly cast many of the players into the spotlight.

As a coach she has achieved success both here and in the WBBL in Australia.

"I feel enormously lucky to have had some experiences through playing and coaching," she said.

"It helps form your philosophy, how you want to go about things, how you want your teams to come and play and the environment you want them to play in."

How does she prepare the players?

Preparation of the players involves taking personal responsibility, which is a huge part of Edwards' coaching philosophy. To win, the players have to take ownership for their own game.

"I'll give my objective feedback after a game but then it's about individual conversations," she says.

"I always say it's an observation, never a criticism because ultimately we want to be the best possible team we can be. Sometimes you need a bit of a nudge, but the girls will be really honest now because they know it's an environment we want to create."

What is the key to winning the final?

So what's Charlotte Edwards got up her sleeve for the final? What tricks will she pull out at Lord's?

The answer is none.

"The biggest mistake you can make going into a final is playing it differently to any other game," she said.

"Sometimes people think they have to do brilliant things. You don't. You just need to do the basics really well and you need to stick with what works so far.

"We won't be talking about results, we won't be talking about lifting a trophy, it will be about the process of how we're going to go about beating whoever we play.

"Whatever happens on Saturday, they are winners in my eyes."

The ECB's Hundred Rising is providing eight aspiring, young journalists the opportunity to tell the story of The Hundred men's and women's competitions through their own eyes.

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