Picture by Chris Hyde/Getty Images. Lauren Winfield-Hill celebrates a winter century for Queensland Fire.
Lauren Winfield-Hill is back on home turf and ready and raring to go with Yorkshire after a memorable few months on and off the field in Australia.
The White Rose captain is still basking in the glory of winning the 50-over state WNCL title with Queensland, for whom she has been playing this winter.
“To finish with a trophy was just unreal,” she said.
More importantly, though, Lauren and her Aussie wife Courtney – the former Northern Diamonds Academy coach – are getting to grips with motherhood having welcomed their first child, Margot, into the world at the start of January.
“It’s been good,” she smiled. “Margot’s magic.
“We’ve just got to get her dual citizenship sorted, get her over and then all will be fine. She’s got an Aussie passport, but they changed the laws at the end of February around getting dual citizens back into the UK. You’ve got to have both passports now, so we’re just waiting for the British one to arrive.
“I’m not sure solo parenting for three weeks was what Courtney had on her agenda, but she’s with her family in Queensland, and Margot’s a pretty cruisy baby.
“Courtney’s been amazing, as you’d expect. She’s a real trooper.”
Lauren, with a smile, describes the few days around the birth as “a bit mental”.
She missed a Queensland game because of the birth, which they announced on January 4. Two days later, she was back on the cricket field.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPPix.com. Sterre Kalis, Lauren Winfield-Hill with coach Rich Pyrah speak live at the recent opening season lunch, via video link from their pre-season camp in Potchefstroom.
“It was just a bit of a whirlwind for the next couple of games,” she said.
One thing she hasn’t managed to do yet is get a pair of wicketkeeping gloves on Margot.
“No, not yet,” she chuckled. “But we’ll get there.”
That brings us onto chatting about cricket.
Winfield-Hill played a dozen 50-over matches for Queensland through the winter and scored 373 runs with a best of 101 not out added to two fifties.
She scored 55 in the final against New South Wales, who had topped the league ladder and included Alyssa Healy in their side for her last ever professional game. Queensland won by seven runs on DLS.
“It was an unbelievable final,” she continued.
“I sort of feel like I started the season really well over there and then had this whirlwind few weeks around Margot being born, which – I mean, let’s be honest – is probably to be expected with a huge thing like that and just the massive adjustments.
“Then, yeah, to finish the way we did, I was really pleased with how I played throughout the season.
“It’s always good to add another trophy into the cabinet.”
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Lauren Winfield-Hill celebrates with the Metro Bank One-Day Cup 2 trophy after victory over Glamorgan last September.
Winfield-Hill, of course, lifted the Metro Bank One-Day Cup 2 title last September after Yorkshire beat Glamorgan in the final at New Road.
This Saturday, they start their summer in the Tier 1 equivalent of that competition, against Somerset at Taunton.
Winfield-Hill was one of a handful of Yorkshire players and coaches who spoke to the media ahead of the new season at Headingley this afternoon.
“I’m massively excited,” she said. “People say, ‘How do you think you’ll go?’ And I say, ‘No idea, really’.
“But that’s sort of like any season, really. It depends on how well you play, and it depends how well the opposition play. But I’m really confident.
“We haven’t got the same depth as what other teams and squads have, but I think we can expect a fair amount from our team.
“You add Sarah Glenn into the mix, Jess Jonassen as well, Sterre Kalis is playing beautifully. We’ve also got Claudie Cooper and Ami Campbell, who have experience at this level, Rachel Slater and Hannah Rainey have been playing international cricket with Scotland and Beth Langston’s played for England.
“I think we can expect some good things.
“When we got news that we weren’t going to be a Tier 1 team, if you’d have said that we will compile this team and squad by the time we are, I think you’d be pretty happy.”
Winfield-Hill will start the season with the wicketkeeping gloves, which means Maddie Ward will be able to bowl her ever-improving spinners.
Picture by Mark Evans/Getty Images. Jess Jonassen and Lauren Winfield-Hill played together this winter for Queensland. They will take the field together for Yorkshire at Taunton on Saturday.
Talking of spinners, Australian overseas star Jess Jonassen arrives in Leeds this evening to begin the first of two years with the county.
Winfield-Hill and Jonassen have spent the winter together in Queensland colours, though the latter was sidelined for a couple of months either side of Christmas due to a shoulder injury.
The left-arm spin bowling all-rounder has played more than 200 times for Australia but not since late 2023.
Winfield-Hill added: “There’s not many people who’ve finished playing international cricket and could still very much play international cricket, you know,
“She’s absolutely one of those players who could easily run it with the best in the world still.
“I mean, she was WBBL player-of-the-year last year alongside Ellyse Perry.
“She’s obviously coming off a shoulder injury and just getting back into playing, but she’s been back for a couple of months now.
“She’s a bit nervous actually, which is quite nice. She messaged me saying that she a bit nervous about a new team, new environment, new people. But I sort of reassured her that it’s a good thing, at this stage of our careers, to be nervous and have things which stretch and challenge us.
“You can quite easily play it safe, and I don’t think it always serves you well. She’ll be great. She’s just an awesome competitor.
“We were pretty selective in what we wanted in our overseas, in terms of obviously the left-arm spin but also the ability to bat in the top four or five. So, yeah, pretty happy to land her, and hopefully she enjoys her time over here and plays really well.”
