Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Yorkshire captain Lauren Winfield-Hill presents retiring Lancashire seamer Kate Cross – her former England team-mate – with a bunch of white and red roses in recognition of a superb career. Winfield-Hill also did the same with Fi Morris.
Lauren Winfield-Hill paid tribute to retiring Lancashire duo Kate Cross and Fi Morris after the Yorkshire captain presented the pair with a bunch of white and red roses following today’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup clash at Headingley.
Lancashire chased down 211 to win by seven wickets, with Morris claiming three wickets with off-spin and Cross two wickets with seam.
Skipper Winfield-Hill top-scored with a superb 90 in Yorkshire’s 210 all out, though she was part of a collapse which saw the hosts fall from 179-4.
Yorkshire ended the season with three wins in each of the One-Day Cup and Vitality Blast competitions, from 16 and 12 games respectively.
Winfield-Hill, a former England team-mate of Cross’s, said: “Crossy was pretty fuming. I don’t think she wanted too much attention and a send-off, but you don’t get to retire more than once unless you’re Conor McGregor or Tyson Fury and you keep coming back.
“I don’t think she’s coming back! But it was important for us to recognise two awesome players in the game in her and Fi.
“I just thought it was important to send them off and do it right.
“We’ve had some really good clashes over the years, the white rose and the red rose.
“That’s what Crossy was trying to avoid because she comes across like a big, tough Lancastrian and didn’t want to get upset. But I think those moments are really special.”
Winfield-Hill played beautifully today. She was controlled and classy before miscuing a return catch to the left-arm swing bowler Tara Norris as Yorkshire fell to 187-7 in the 39th over.
She said: “I was pretty livid to get out like I did.
“I was really determined today to try and get us into a winning position, and then obviously we were not able to capitalise.
“I thought we were really nicely placed actually with 14 overs to go.
“Really disappointed to just dwindle out and lose with that collapse that we have seen quite often.
“But, yeah, I’m exhausted. It’s been a tough year.
“We’ve been the nearly girls, but I think that’s just where we’re at.
“We’ve been competitive. We have actually played some really good cricket.
“I feel like we’re 80 percent really good, but the 20 percent is a pretty slippery slope quite quickly and has been in a lot of the games where the game sort of slides from the grasp of our hands in five overs.
“But if you take the lens out a little bit beyond that, there’s still a lot of good things in patches.
“We’ll be better for it.
“We’re obviously bolstering the squad for next year. Someone like Em Arlott is a huge, huge addition for us.
“It’s been tough at times, but there been some really good performances from a lot of people stepping up. You know, someone like Beth Langston the amount that she’s played and bowled this year, Hannah Rainey’s stepped up, Sarah Glenn’s been awesome when she’s come in.
“We’ve had cameos from different people.
“It’s not all doom and gloom, but this year’s all about learning.
“Next year we need to perform. And I think we need to really meet that head on.”
