The following season, he established himself as United's regular left-half, making 36 first-team appearances and scoring his first senior goals, finishing the season with six to his name. His performances revived calls for him to be selected for the senior England team, and a member of the selection committee was despatched to watch him play against Huddersfield Town on 18 September 1954, when he was just short his 18th birthday, but nothing came of it in the short term, although he was selected for a Football League XI which played an exhibition match against a Scottish League team. In March he played for England B against an equivalent team from Germany and, despite being criticised in the press for his "poor showing", was called up for the full national team a week later. He made his debut in a match against Scotland on 2 April 1955 in the British Home Championship aged 18 years and 183 days, making him England's youngest debutant since the Second World War, a record which stood until Michael Owen made his England debut in 1998. Three weeks later United took advantage of the fact that he was still eligible for the youth team to select him for the club's third consecutive FA Youth Cup final. The decision to field an England international player in the youth team was heavily criticised, and Matt Busby was forced to pen a newspaper article defending Edwards' selection, which paid off for United as the wing-half was instrumental in a third Youth Cup win.