CHARLOTTE Taylor insisted her game-changing six-wicket haul in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final was “the best I’ve ever bowled.”

The spinner stole the show at Edgbaston to earn Southern Vipers the crown in a thrilling finale against the Northern Diamonds.

Taylor’s six for 34 from 10 overs meant the Vipers defended their total of 231 – skittling out the Diamonds for 193 in reply.

The 26-year-old, born in New Milton, has enjoyed a week full of congratulations – including from her work colleagues, who decorated her desk with pictures and presents after the triumph.

“I work in aerospace, selling plane parts I suppose you could say,” said Taylor, who now lives in Southampton to be nearer to the Ageas Bowl’s training facilities.

“Lots of people wouldn’t have seen me play too much cricket, and I think that works to my advantage, especially with my bowling.

“It was a great final on a great ground, and it could have gone either way. I’m sure it made for a brilliant game for everyone watching on the telly.

“That’s the best I’ve ever bowled. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

“I’m proving to myself week in and week out that I can play at this level.”

Taylor performed when the pressure was at its highest, with her remarkable final performance also securing her the highest wicket-taker accolade in the competition.

Her 15 scalps from five matches came at an average of just more than 10 – with a strike rate of under 18 deliveries.

And with the Vipers having gone unbeaten in the competition this season, Taylor believes the best is yet to come.

“This team is so young,” she added. “Myself, Georgia (Adams) and Carla (Rudd), we’re some of the oldest at 26. And some of these girls are 16, even 15.

“So for us to win seven games out of seven with such a young side, it’s really impressive and bodes well for the future.”

Of all the congratulations for the spinner, nobody was more pleased for her than former England captain and Vipers head coach Charlotte Edwards.

"It's been so lovely to watch someone who, probably a year ago, would have said she would have never made this level of cricket," Edwards told ESPNcricinfo.

"I always thought she had the ability, it's just whether she did.

"Sunday was just a brilliant moment. I had a tear in my eye when she walked off because I know what she's been through and she's done it the tough way at times.

"She's a great inspiration to a lot of female cricketers out there who think that maybe at 25, 26 it is over for them because it's seen as very much a younger girls' sport at the moment.

“It's been so lovely to see her really shine at this level and I'm really pleased for her."

Analysing Taylor’s unique bowling action, Edwards added: "She just bowls arm-balls basically but she bowls with an off-spin action so everyone's expecting it to turn into them but they actually just slide away from the right-hander.

“But she does actually get the odd one to turn back and that's why she's quite difficult to play.

"She bowls a very tight line and a really lovely action and she's just bamboozled quite a few people. Hopefully she won't change what she does."