Janette, you were a generation too early in terms of your approach to game: Charlotte Edwards

By PTI

LONDON: The ICC’s latest Hall of Famer, late Janette Brittin was ahead of her time and played her part in the transition from shorts to trousers in women’s cricket, said former England women’s team skipper Charlotte Edwards.

In a heartfelt tribute, Edwards recalled the times she spent with the England great, how Brittin encouraged her in her initial years in international cricket and also remembered how she batted with a broken finger in her last series against Australia, displaying bravery of a different kind.

“I played in your last few matches in the Test series against Australia, perhaps my fondest memories of watching you play. Despite your broken finger, you battled through to play some of the best cricket I’ve seen, which emphasises the toughness of your character, and your quality right up to the very end,” Edwards wrote in her letter.

“There was a real resilience around you that made you in my view England’s greatest batter and everything that I looked up to and wanted to be myself.”

The letter was uploaded by the ICC on its website.

The former right-hander, who died at the age of 58 in 2017, was inducted into the Hall of Fame on Saturday ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final, alongside Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene and South Africa’s Shaun Pollock.

“You were a great role model for me and someone I feel very fortunate to have played with at the back end of your career. Everyone I spoke to then, and since always talks about you with the utmost admiration. When we said our final goodbye to you at your funeral, seeing everyone there talking so fondly and telling us all the great stories about you confirmed your status as a legend on and off the field,” Edwards said.

A batter of the highest calibre, Brittin dominated both red and white-ball cricket in an international career that commenced in 1979 and finished in 1998.

Across those 19 years, she won a World Cup, scored 10 centuries and set almost every major batting benchmark in women’s Test cricket.

“Around the world, you were one of the best. Winning the World Cup in 1993 I’m sure would be considered your biggest achievement. Top-scoring with 48 in the final was the crowning glory for you, and it was great to watch England during that wonderful year,” Edwards said.

“I can’t just talk about you as a batter, however! You were a better fielder at 36 than I was at 16! You were just so fit and professional. I remember my first World Cup tour with you. It was the first time we wore trousers – we can probably thank you for that – and you took some wonderful catches being the excellent fielder you were. I’d like to say you were probably a generation too early really in terms of your approach to the game,” she said.

In 1984, as England returned to Test cricket, she again stamped her mark on the game, making an unbeaten 144 opening the batting against New Zealand.

She would finish the three-Test series with an average of 112.66.

“To be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame is perhaps the biggest accolade you can have in the game. Being celebrated along with some of the greatest players is one of the things that you hope one day maybe you’ll experience,” Edwards said.