Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Lauren Winfield-Hill will be back with Yorkshire at Northampton on Saturday following her loan spell with Essex.
Lauren Winfield-Hill has hailed a shared contribution amongst the squad to help put Yorkshire on the verge of their first trophy of the new professional county era.
The White Rose women head to Vitality Blast League 2 Finals Day on Saturday, at Northampton.
They face Glamorgan in the semi-final at 2.30pm, with the winners playing either Leicestershire or Middlesex in the final under the Wantage Road lights at 6.30pm.
Club captain Winfield-Hill will be available after her loan spell with Essex for the Tier 1 Blast competition.
The 34-year-old wanted to play top-tier cricket immediately before the forthcoming Hundred, in which she will play for the Oval Invincibles next month.
But she is also desperate to win a trophy with her home county.
“Winning a trophy is always special. It doesn’t matter what Tier it’s in. You want to be a winner and to have as many in the cabinet as you can,” said the York-born star.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Lauren Winfield-Hill played in two of Yorkshire’s eight Vitality Blast victories. The county are bidding to make it a perfect 10.
“The bigger goal is beyond this. We want to be a winning team in Tier 1. But this is a stepping stone.
“It’s something we haven’t necessarily spoken about this year, trophies. But winning is a habit which we want to get into as soon as possible. Let’s try and start it at Finals Day. It would be awesome if we could.”
Winfield-Hill played two games for Yorkshire over a weekend late last month whilst the Tier 1 Blast broke for a week or so. She didn’t skipper the side, leaving that to Maddie Ward. The likelihood is that Ward will skipper again.
“I’ve obviously played those couple of games, and we got pushed in the one at Northamptonshire away a bit harder than we had done previously,” she said.
“That was a really good game for us (won by five wickets chasing a 151-target).
“To absorb that pressure and come out the other side was awesome.
“You want to be a part of high-pressure moments. That’s how you grow as a player.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Maddie Ward has been captaining Yorkshire in Lauren Winfield-Hill’s absence. She is likely to do so again at Finals Day.
“The whole thing is about preparing for next year.
“The more times we can play good teams and be put under pressure, the better we’ll be.”
Asked what she thinks has been key to Yorkshire’s group stage success, in which they won eight games out of eight, Winfield-Hill continued: “It’s been a real shared contribution.
“Maddie Ward’s been good, Ria Fackrell’s taken wickets, Liv Thomas and Claudie Cooper too.
“It’s been nice to see Rachel Slater come back after missing a good part of the first half of the summer with her fractured wrist.
“Georgie Boyce has made a real impact with the bat having come in on loan.”
Yorkshire’s schedule of competitive matches this season has been light compared to what they will tackle next summer when they head up to Tier 1.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Lauren Winfield-Hill celebrates her fifty in the triumphant Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final for the Northern Diamonds against Southern Vipers at Lord’s in September 2022.
So the chance to play back-to-back games at Finals Day will be a good opportunity to prepare for dealing with the increased workloads they can expect in 2026.
“At the minute, the Tier 2 scheduling is very different to Tier 1. We know that. I’m proof of it,” Winfield-Hill added.
“The girls haven’t played as many games as they will do next year.
“Playing two games in a day, to hopefully have to back one up with another, will be a good challenge. There’s the physical and mental aspect to it.”
