CHARLOTTE Edwards insists the job is not done for her Southern Vipers side this summer following their dominant success in the competition which bears her name.

The Vipers went unbeaten in the T20 competition and comfortably defeated Central Sparks by six wickets in the final at Northampton, writes Milly McEvoy.

The south coast side added the Charlotte Edwards Cup to their two 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy titles having been knocked out in the semi-final last year and their illustrious coach admitted the pain of that defeat helped inspire this year’s triumph.

“It was an area of focus for us going into this T20 because we didn't play as well as we should have last year and that disappointed us,” said former England captain Edwards.

“Our goal is to win the double. We've done one bit of that now and we've got a massive part of the season to come now in the 50-over stuff.

“And hopefully some of these girls will go on and play cricket for England this summer, which is just as pleasing for me as winning trophies.

“They'll enjoy tonight. They deserve it, it's been a great, great few weeks, it's been tiring, but topped off well here at Northampton.”

Central Sparks had advanced to face the Vipers from a low-scoring semi-final against the holders South East Stars, but another low total was not enough to stop the invincible Vipers.

Having won the toss, Sparks lost their two explosive openers captain Eve Jones and Issy Wong cheaply as player of the tournament Amy Jones led the rebuild.

She departed for 27, the second of Charlie Dean’s two wickets in a display which led to the spinner being named player of the final.

Sarah Glenn and Davina Perrin attempted to push Sparks to a defendable total but poor communication and strong fielding saw the Vipers pull off three run outs.

Central Sparks ended on 109 for eight from their 20 overs, the Vipers displaying their ruthlessness, as built by mastermind Edwards.

She added: “We want to win, we want to be producing players who want to win and I think that's the kind of culture we've created down at the Vipers. We don't want to be second place.

“I couldn't be more pleased to win on the same ground where we won the Rachael [Heyhoe-Flint Trophy] last year.

“We’ve got Rachael and Charlotte now, that's what the girls keep saying. They've been so desperate to bring Charlotte back to the Ageas because of me and to do that today and under the pressure they've been under coming in as favourites, I'm really chuffed for them.”

Vipers lost captain Georgia Adams early in their reply but Danni Wyatt and Maia Bouchier put on a show, scoring 20 and 32 respectively.

And Vipers academy graduates Dean and Ella McClaughlan were there at the end to complete a chase of 110 with 4.1 overs to spare.

Losing skipper Jones said: “We are really chuffed we got to the finals, our aim at the start of the competition was to make Finals Day.

“We’re really proud of the girls for making it this far, but obviously disappointed on the day that we couldn’t get over the line.

“The bowlers bowled amazingly [in the semi-final]. They have been really good for us this season. We didn’t quite back it up with the bat.

“And then to choose to bat and score 109 was not quite enough. We are disappointed with that but there are a lot of positives for us to take from the past few weeks.”

The two sides will face off again as the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy gets underway on July 2, with Vipers looking for their third fifty-over title in a row.

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