Sarah Jane Elliott (; born 4 January 1982) is an Australian former cricketer who played as a right-handed batter and right-arm leg break bowler. She appeared in three Test matches, 22 One Day Internationals and 14 Twenty20 Internationals for Australia between 2005 and 2014. She played domestic cricket for Victoria, Melbourne Renegades and Adelaide Strikers.
Edwards made her senior debut for Victoria mid-way through the 2000–01 season soon after turning 19. At this stage of her career, Edwards was a specialist batsman and did not bowl her first ball in senior cricket until six years later. She was not productive with the bat in her first two seasons, and was dropped after making a duck in her only innings of the third season. Up to this point, she had made only 165 runs at 11.00. She regained her place in the 2003–04 season but averaged less than 10. Nevertheless, she was selected for the Australian Under-23 team and made 51 and 97 in matches against the Sri Lankan national team. Edwards made her breakthrough in the 2004–05 WNCL, scoring 281 runs, more than she had made in her first four seasons combined. She was selected for the 2005 tour of England, but was not selected in the Tests; she made her One Day International (ODI) debut in the last match but neither batted or bowled. Edwards was then dropped from the national team and did not play for Australia again until a solitary ODI at the start of the 2006–07 season. After scoring 332 runs in the WNCL season, she was given a consistent run in the national team for the first time, playing in just over half the matches during the year. She made only 37 runs at 7.40 and spent most of the following season's international fixtures watching from the sidelines as a reserve, playing in only two ODIs.
Edwards started the 2008–09 season by making her top-score in ODIs, 96, in her only innings in the series against India. However, she had a poor WNCL season with the bat, averaging 19.40. Although she began bowling regularly for the first time at senior level, and was successful with 11 wickets, Edwards was dropped from the ODI team, missing the 2009 World Cup and World Twenty20.
In 2009–10 Edwards performed strongly with both bat and ball, scoring 300 runs and taking 14 wickets and was recalled to the national team. She played in all eight ODI matches against New Zealand in the Rose Bowl series at the end of the season, the first time she had played a full series for the national team. Edwards does not bowl regularly at international level as Lisa Sthalekar and Shelley Nitschke—who are also spin bowling all-rounders—are ranked among the top ten bowlers in the world and do most of the slow bowling for Australia. She was a part of the team that won the 2010 World Twenty20, playing in all but one match.
Youth career Edwards made was selected for the Victorian team for the national Under-19 tournament in January 2000, turning 18 during the early part of the competition. She made 55 in the third match against South Australia and recorded her top-score of 89 against the Australian Capital Territory. The Victorians won all of their seven matches except their round-robin match against New South Wales and the final against the same team. Edwards scored 224 runs at 32.00.
Domestic debut
At the start of the 2000–01 season, Edwards played in two Second XI matches for Victoria against New South Wales. She scored 7 and 46 and earned a call-up into the senior team for the double-header against New south Wales in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL). She scored 9 and 8 as the Victorians lost both matches. In the last match of the season against South Australia, she made 26 and ended the season with 46 runs at 11.50. At this stage of her career, Edwards played purely as a batsman and did not bowl at all in competition.
Edwards registered her maiden half-century in the first match of the 2001–02 WNCL against Queensland, scoring 64 in a five-wicket win. She went into a form slump after that, failing to reach 15 in her remaining nine innings for the season, including three consecutive ducks. In the last two round-robin matches, against New South Wales, she made only five and seven in consecutive defeats, and when the teams met again a fortnight later for the finals series, she managed 13 and 5 as Victoria lost to the defending champions—who successfully chased down targets in both matches—2–0. Playing in all of Victoria's matches, Edwards ended her season with 119 runs at 11.90. These performances saw Edwards spend almost all of the 2002–03 season out of the state team; she made only one appearance, registering a duck against South Australia. Victoria went on to defeat New South Wales 2–0 in the finals. Up to this point she had a career average of 11.00.
Edwards regained a regular position for Victoria in the 2003–04 WNCL season, but again had little impact in the ten matches. Apart from 24 and 26 in the two matches against Western Australia, she failed to pass 15 in her six remaining innings, which included four scores below five. In one match, she not allowed to bat even after the fall of the seventh wicket, being shielded by her team despite nominally being a specialist batsman. Victoria met New South Wales in the finals, and lost 2–0. Edwards was again ineffective in the finals, scoring three and one. She ended the season with 77 runs at 9.62 and had problems running between the wickets, being run out three times out of eight dismissals.
Despite these consistently poor performances, Edwards was selected in the Australian Under-23 team captained by Leah Poulton that toured Sri Lanka in September 2004 to play the hosts' senior national team. She was not required to bat in the first one-dayer, before scoring 10 and 51 in the latter two fixtures. The visit ended with a first-class match between the two teams, and Edwards top-scored in the first innings with 97 as Australia took a 102-run lead. She made only five in the second innings before taking 1/10 to help seal a 130-run victory.
Edwards returned to Australia and performed much more productively in the 2004–05 WNCL than in previous years. She made 90 before being run out in the first match of the season against Western Australia, setting up a 74-run win. She made 35 in the second match the next day in a nine-wicket victory. In a round-robin match against reigning champions New South Wales, she reached 40 before being run out; Victoria went on to a three-wicket loss. The two teams met again in the finals series and Edwards halted her run of failures in finals. In the first match she made 64 but was unable to prevent a 21-run defeat. She then made 3 and 15 as the Victorians won the remaining finals by five wickets and 50 runs respectively to claim the WNCL. Edwards ended the season with 281 runs at 25.45. However, these performances were not enough for Edwards to win a position in the World Cup team.
International debut
After the 2005 World Cup in South Africa, several players retired and vacancies opened up in the national team. Edwards was selected for the senior Australian team to tour England in mid-2005, but spent most of the tour on the sidelines. She did not play in the three One Day Internationals in Ireland at the start of the trip and was overlooked for the two Tests against England. It was not until the fifth and final ODI at the County Ground in Taunton, Hampshire that she made her debut, becoming the 104th woman to represent Australia in One Day International cricket. She neither batted nor bowled; the hosts were all out for 256 and Australia reached the target with four wickets in hand, Edwards not being trusted to bat any higher than No. 9 if necessary, despite playing purely as a batsman. She played in the T20 international the day after, but was again not called upon to bat or bowl in her debut in the format.
During the 2005–06 season, Edwards scored 179 runs at 25.57, playing in all of Victoria's eight matches. Her best score was an unbeaten 72 against New South Wales, which was not enough to prevent a five-wicket defeat. She had earlier hit a 42 in a four-wicket win over South Australia. Victoria won only two of their matches and did not qualify for the final. Edwards was left out of the Australian side for the home ODI series and one-off Test against India held in Adelaide after the season. She was recalled for the five-match home ODI series against New Zealand at the start of the 2006–07 season, and played in the last match. She came to the crease at 5/108 with Australia in difficulty, still requiring a further 96 runs from 116 balls to reach their target of 204. Edwards scored an unbeaten 45 from 48 balls to guide Australia to a four-wicket win with 14 balls to spare in her first ODI on home soil at Allan Border Field.
Edwards performer consistently through most of the 2006–07 WNCL season, reaching 28 in each of her first six innings, including a 51 in a six-wicket win over New South Wales and an unbeaten 52 in another successful run-chase against Western Australia. After making single-figure scores in the last two round-robin matches against Queensland, she played in the three finals, which Victoria hosted after winning six of their eight qualifying matches. She made 22 and 25 in the first two matches and in the deciding match, made 38 before being run out. New South Wales reached the target of 206 with three wickets in hand to defend their title. Edwards ended with 332 runs at 33.20. During the season, Edwards had defensive problems and was bowled in six of her ten dismissals. She also bowled for the first time at senior level, although it was not a success; her only over was hit for nine runs.
After the end of the Australian season, Edwards was selected for the ODI team for a four-nations tournament in Chennai, India. In addition to the hosts and Australia, New Zealand and England were also participating, and each team played each other twice in the round-robin phase. Edwards was allowed to bat at No. 5 at the start of the competition, but failed to make an impression. She made a duck and one in the first two round-robin matches against New Zealand and India, which Australia lost, and was dropped. She was recalled for the final qualifying match, scoring 20 from as many balls as Australia defeated the hosts by four wickets. She was then unbeaten on 8 from 16 balls as Australia defeated New Zealand by six wickets to win the tournament. Edwards ended the Indian tour with 29 runs at 9.66 at a strike rate of 58.00, and was retained for the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand hosted by Australia in the tropical northern city of Darwin in the winter of 2007. She made four in the only T20 match, which Australia won by one wicket/run and continued to struggle in the five-match ODI series. After not being required to bat in the seven-wicket victory in the opening match, she struggled and made two from 21 balls in a 35-run defeat in the second match and was dropped. She was recalled for the fourth match and made six from 15 balls, and was omitted from the final match of the series. In all, she played in seven of Australia's twelve matches for the calendar year and made 37 runs at 7.40 with a strike rate of only 38.54.
Transformation into an all-rounder and omission from the 2009 World Cup