Putting the win in Winfield-Hill
It was a phrase used by Lauren and her wife Courtney, the Leeds Rhinos and England rugby league star, throughout 2022. “We’re putting the win in Winfield-Hill” they would say as the trophies came flooding in. For Lauren’s part, she won both the Hundred with Oval Invincibles and the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy with the Northern Diamonds.
An England wicketkeeper-batter, a Yorkshire legend, Winfield-Hill enjoyed a stunning summer in 2022.
She was the leading run-scorer in the RHFT with 470 from seven innings, including a brilliant best of 125 not out in a victory over the Southern Vipers at Headingley to clinch a Lord’s final appearance. She also earned the player of the match award in that final with a crucial 65 at the top of the order and two catches behind the stumps.
Earlier in the year, the York-born right-gander had lost her England place but regained it at the end of the year following her superb domestic form.
The loss of her central England contract means the Diamonds were able to offer her a three-year contract at Headingley ahead of 2023.
At time of writing, she has played 104 times for England across all formats since debuting in 2013.
She helped Yorkshire win the County Championship title in 2015, picking up her winner’s medal in a Buckingham Palace reception. Just around the corner, a couple of years later, she was in the England team that won the 50-over World Cup by beating India in a tense final at Lord’s.
Fingers crossed, there a many more titles to come in Diamonds’ blue for this serial champion.
