England's women cricketers Charlotte Edwards and Claire Taylor get MCC honour

Charlotte Edwards and Claire Taylor, the two leading England women batsmen of their generation, were awarded honorary life membership of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on Sunday.

England women's captain Edwards joined a select group of cricketers, including India greats Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who have been granted honorary life membership of the MCC, which owns Lord's Cricket Ground in London, while still an active international player.

Taylor, who is the only woman to have been named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year, retired from international cricket in 2011 but still plays for MCC Women.

Edwards and Taylor were presented with MCC caps by Phillip Hodson, the club's president, before the England-India women's one-day international at Lord's on Sunday.

For more than 200 years, MCC was an all-male club until women were admitted as members in 1998.

Although it is more than four decades since MCC ran English cricket, it retains worldwide responsibility for the sport's laws and membership of the club remains highly prized with an average waiting-list of 20 years.