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Although Charlotte Edwards’ mother referred to it as
“a miracle,” Southern Vipers had it coming, even though it
occasionally didn’t seem like it this season.
With a convincing five-wicket victory over Blaze in
the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy Final on Sunday in Northampton, the first team
to complete the domestic double has been developing a juggernaut under the
direction of a coach who has also won the inaugural WIPL title and the Women’s
Hundred in the space of six months.
However, despite the fact that Vipers had a good chance
of winning both the 50-over championship and the competition that bears her
name in 2022, when they won the former but lost the latter’s final to Northern
Diamonds who prevented them from winning a third consecutive RHFT, this
accomplishment came against the backdrop of a forgettable start to the season
that saw them ranked fifth when play was suspended in August for the Hundred.
Vipers advanced directly to the final, where they
defeated the same opposition as in the Charlotte Edwards Cup title game in June,
by winning their remaining five group games, including three after the
mid-season break.
“I just can’t believe it,” Edwards said.
“To think that the team has played the way they have done, stood up when
they needed to. We were miles off the pace, if I’m honest. I just felt we had
the momentum coming into today, but finals are finals and you never quite know.
To have pulled this off is quite remarkable, as my mum says, ‘a miracle’.”
“I’ve got good players, good staff, good people,
and people who are committed and are winners,” Edwards said of her
successful teams. “When I recruit, I look at the character.”