CRICKET legend and former England women’s captain Charlotte Edwards will be the guest of honour at this year’s East Hampshire Sports Awards.

Edwards will be at the Old Thorns Hotel in Liphook on March 14, inspiring sportsmen, women, coaches, officials and the people who support them, telling them about her successful cricket career that saw her become England’s record run scorer and a veteran of 309 caps in a career spanning 20 years.

Edwards’ international career began at just 16 and she went on to captain the England women’s team for more than ten years and currently holds the England record for the most one-day international appearances.

Her speech at the sports awards ceremony will not only talk about her career on the pitch, but also how she inspired the next generation of female cricketers and how she was central to a new professional era of contracts for the women’s team – having started her career in an amateur era and helped the sport develop into full time careers for women.

District council deputy leader Julie Butler said: “We are honoured to have someone of Charlotte’s calibre at the sports awards ceremony this year. She has reached the absolute pinacle in her sport and will no doubt inspire everyone who comes to the event in March.

“She is a great role model and motivation for young sports people who aspire to be the best at their sport and it will be really interesting to hear her story and how much hard work went in to achieving what she did.”