The pain element made it pretty easy to call it a day: Anya Shrubsole

Anya Shrubsole, former England pacer and World Cup winner, called it a day from professional cricket. The announcement came after the Charlotte Edwards Cup final at New Road, where her team, Southern Vipers, clinched the title by defeating The Blaze in the final. 

A Danni Wyatt half-century propelled the Vipers’ chase of 114, and fittingly it was captain Georgia Adams who hit the winning runs for her team to ensure the Vipers defended their title.

Vipers stalwart Anya Shrubsole signed off from regional cricket on a high, lifting the trophy and earning the POTM as she announced that she had played her last game for the Vipers.

Shrubsole had earlier taken 2-24, a typically skillful spell of four overs that was split over yesterday’s scheduled final and today’s reserve day, with a thunderstorm bringing everyone back this morning to take the final to its close with Blaze poised on 53-4 overnight.

She attributed the Vipers win, in part, to their know-how, having triumphed in the competition before. 

“I think our experience was a factor in the final. We were in a really strong position before it absolutely launched it down yesterday, having got them to 50-4, and it’s always tricky to come back as a batting team and start again."

For the former England seamer, who will take part in The Hundred this year before hanging up her boots, it brings to an end a domestic career that begun in 2004.

With over 100 wickets in both ODIs and T20Is, she had an illustrious career donning the England jersey. Having retired from international cricket at the beginning of the last English summer, Shrubsole (31) confessed that bowling had, off-late, become a bit too much for her body to handle.

“It’s hard to put an exact date on when I made the decision, to be honest with you. I think through the course of this tournament it just became clear to me that my time was up.

“I carried on playing because I really enjoy playing, but I guess the pain element of it – if I’m being totally honest – made it not particularly enjoyable at times, so in lots of ways it was a pretty easy decision to call it a day at the end of this year.

“I feel very lucky to have played the last few seasons with this group, because they’re an exceptional team and an exceptional bunch of people.”