How will the Rachel Heyhoe Flint Trophy format work this summer?
Southern Vipers are the defending champions after they won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final against Northern Diamonds at Northampton last September.
The same eight team will compete in the 50-over competition this summer with each team to play against each other once during the group stage. The team that tops the table after the group stage will advance to the final, to be staged on 25 September.
The second and third-placed teams at the end of the group stage will meet in a play-off on 21 September. The winner of that match will progress to the final.
The venue for the play-off is to be confirmed whilst the final will be at Lord's.
How can I follow the matches?
The regional teams will be live streaming matches and the ECB-funded match report service to ensure you can keep updated when the competitions begin. There is also a dedicated match centre which can be found here.
You can follow each team now, via Twitter:
Central Sparks: @CentralSparks
Lightning: @Lightningcric
Northern Diamonds: @North_Diamonds
Thunder: @Thundercric
South East Stars: @SEStarsCricket
Southern Vipers: @VipersKSL
Sunrisers: @Sunriserscrick
Western Storm: @_WesternStorm
What is the background of the eight teams playing in the Charlotte Edwards Cup?
The eight teams are formed of First-Class Counties and National Counties – and Loughborough University - who work together at the elite end of the women’s domestic game to support a squad of professional and semi-professional players, as well as an academy.
The eight regions are:
Central Sparks (Warwickshire CCC & Worcestershire CCC, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire)
Lightning (Loughborough University, Derbyshire CCC, Leicestershire CCC, Nottinghamshire CCC, Lincolnshire)
Northern Diamonds (Yorkshire CCC, Durham CCC, Northumberland)
Thunder (Lancashire CCC, Cheshire, Cumbria)
South East Stars (Surrey CCC, Kent CCC)
Southern Vipers (Hampshire Cricket Ltd, Sussex CCC, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire)
Sunrisers (Middlesex CCC, Essex CCC, Northamptonshire CCC, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk)
Western Storm (Glamorgan CCC, Gloucestershire CCC, Somerset CCC, Cricket Wales, Cornwall, Devon, Wiltshire)