England captain Charlotte Edwards hopes to cap an exceptional year for English women’s cricket by leading the country to win the first World Twenty20 Championships which starts in Taunton on Thursday.

Kent skipper Edwards and county team-mate Lydia Greenway helped England win the Ashes and the World Cup in Sydney and as the most experienced side in the shortest form of the game, they are favourites to reach the last four together with India, their first opponents, New Zealand and Australia.

All group matches will be played at two venues, Kings College and Taunton Vale Cricket Club, with the Somerset town now adopted by the ECB as the official home of the women’s game in this country. The semi-finals and final will share the spotlight next week with the men’s competition at Trent Bridge, The Oval and Lord’s

Edwards, 29, who averages more than 52 in Twenty20 cricket said: "I think it’s the best form of cricket to showcase the excitement of the women’s game and we are hoping for good crowds in all the group games It will be a hard tournament to win."

Greenway, 24, is confident England can fire as a unit and determined to play her part, making the most of any starts she gets with the bat in the middle order.

She said: "Everyone has contributed with bat and ball in the past and we want to continue doing that in the Twenty20s. We have got to step up and produce good scores."