New coach Edwards ready to take Sixers back to the top

England legend Charlotte Edwards says the chance to take arguably the strongest roster in the WBBL back to the top of the competition made it a "no-brainer" to take on the head coach role of the Sydney Sixers.

Edwards was today unveiled as the new coach of the Sixers, who are looking to respond from last season's bottom-placed finish, the third year in a row they have failed to reach the finals.

With Alyssa Healy and Ashleigh Gardner already signed on for WBBL|08 and Ellyse Perry expected to follow, Edwards said the chance to work with some of the best players in the world and reverse the club's recent fortunes made it an easy decision to take the job.

"That's probably what attracted me to this role," Edwards told cricket.com.au when asked how such a star-studded side could fall short of the finals three years in a row.

"You see the list they've got … (and you think), 'why aren't they performing, why aren't they doing well?'. That really appealed to the coach in me.

"You often have a team where you want to play a certain way, but you can't because you sometimes haven't got the playing group. Well, we absolutely have got the playing group and now it's just a matter of getting the best out of those players."

Edwards has taken over from Ben Sawyer, who led the Sixers to two titles and recently joined Australia's national side as an assistant coach.

The 42-year-old former England captain, one of the greatest ever women's players, conceded simply having a strong group of players at her disposal will not guarantee success.

Pointing to two COVID-interrupted seasons as possible mitigating factors in the club's recent run of poor results, she said developing a good rapport with her players during the off-season will be the key to unlocking their potential.

"You've got to build relationships with players," she said. "You can't just come in and tell them what to do.

"It's about understanding them as people, understanding what makes them tick and getting the best out of them. And that might be different from Healy to Perry to Stella Campbell. And that's the challenge for any coach.

"There's a pressure I put on myself anyway. And to take this job on when I have done, they haven't reached finals for the past few years, so I think there's pressure off me in many ways.

"I've got to get this team to make finals and I'm absolutely certain we can do that. I wouldn't take on the role if I didn't think that."

In addition to the club's Australia stars, the Sixers have a strong local pace attack to choose from, led by Campbell, Maitlan Brown and Lauren Cheatle.

Edwards flagged the club will use their quota of international players to boost their top-order batting and spin stocks, with some announcements expected in the coming weeks following the lifting of the competition's signing embargo.

"I've got some decent contacts in the game, and I've had some really positive conversations with a number of players," she said.

"I think people are going to be pretty excited by the players we bring in."

With strong links to the Adelaide Strikers as both a player and a coach, Edwards added it was "a really tough call" to leave the club that had been her Australian home since 2016.

"I owe so much to the Adelaide Strikers and what they did for me as a coach," she said.

"I've done five years there (as an assistant coach) and it just felt like the right time for me, and the right job came up."