The Charlotte Edwards Award

The Charlotte Edwards Award

The Most Outstanding Under 16 Schoolgirl Cricketer in England 

2025 Winner: Venus Weerappuli (Bradford GS & Lancashire)

The Charlotte Edwards Award – a new schoolgirl cricketer award was introduced in March 2020.  It helps to address the gender gap in The Cricket Society’s award structure, adding to the award created in 2002 for The Most Promising Young Female Cricketer.

The winners of the award are decided by The Cricket Society Executive Committee following a nomination from the Director of Women’s Cricket at the ECB.

The Award honours Charlotte Edwards – the first female Vice President of The Cricket Society who amassed more than 10,000 international runs for England Women across all formats of cricket.

This year’s winner is Venus Weerappuli - the fifth recipient of this award.

Venus is a leg-spinner who attends Bradford Grammar School and has represented Lancashire both at Academy and Senior level. She started playing cricket just before her ninth birthday, playing for Tong Park Esholt’s U11 Boys Team. Her talents have been honed, in part, by dad Ajantha, known as AJ, a spin bowler who played first-class cricket for Sri Lanka.

In 2024 Venus was part of the Lancashire U18 team who did the double, winning both the 50-over and 20-over national finals.

In the U18 County Cup final at Kibworth that year, Lancashire won by one wicket in the 48th over. Venus took a stunning 6-53. In August 2024 she recorded the best ever figures for Thunder Academy in a match v Western Storm - 7-24.

In the 2025 season she continued to represent the Lancashire Academy with great success. I’m told she has both a googly and a flipper in her armoury so watch out, batters!

The photograph shows Venus receiving her award from Alec Stewart at The Cricket Society’s Annual Awards Lunch at the Union Jack Club, London, on Thursday, 6th November.