Bubble burst: Winfield-Hill finds new lease on life

A fresh perspective has Lauren Winfield-Hill enjoying the best form of her professional career, as the veteran English batter puts the disappointment of her international axing and her struggles with bubble-life behind her.

Winfield-Hill is easily the most experienced hand in a young Melbourne Stars batting line-up in Weber WBBL|08, and she arrived in Australia fresh in red-hot form after a dream domestic summer with the bat.

She was the leading run scorer in the UK's domestic one-day tournament, striking 470 at 78 for title-winning Northern Diamonds, and scored the fourth-most runs in The Hundred, hitting 219 runs at 54.75 with a strike rate of 136 for champions Oval Invincibles.

The 32-year-old's purple patch came after the opener was dropped from England's XI midway through the one-day World Cup in New Zealand in March and left out of subsequent series against South Africa and India.

"Without a shadow of a doubt," Winfield-Hill told The Scoop podcast when asked if she was in the best form of her career.

"It's the most volume of runs and the most consistent I've ever been."

Image Id: F65CF20B3AE14EF98193B9D009530149 Image Caption: Lauren Winfield-Hill had a standout northern summer // Getty

Winfield-Hill, who has played 100 matches across all formats for England and was part of their 2017 one-day World Cup winning team, in part puts the form struggles that led to her international axing down to two years of living and playing inside bubbles throughout the pandemic.

A three-and-a-half-month period under restrictions at the start of the year, as England contested the Ashes in Australia before the World Cup in New Zealand, was a tipping point.

"I've spoken pretty openly about bubbles and how much I struggled after the World Cup just functioning as a human being," Winfield-Hill said.

"I found it difficult because I am someone who thinks about the game a lot, but I have to get distracted (from cricket) and there's no distraction in those spaces.

"(I did) loads of work to reconnect with who I am and who I am as a cricketer, and how I want to play my cricket."

When the England and Wales Cricket Board released its 2022-23 women's contract list on Wednesday, Winfield-Hill was one of six players missing from the previous year's group.

It was news that just a few years ago, when there were no professional domestic contracts beyond the international group, would have devastated the right-hander.

But recent moves towards increased professionalism in England's regional set-up means Winfield-Hill has the comfort knowing she has a three-year contract with Northern Diamonds.

"I think in England, especially, you were so frightened of not being an England cricketer," she said.

"I had to succeed, I had to perform ... and we all know that if you have to do anything and you have that weight, chances are you aren't going to play that well and fulfill your potential.

"The bit that used to freak me out was like, 'Oh my God, if I don't play for England, I'm not a professional cricketer, I'm going to have to get a job'.

"But I've got a three-year domestic contract that means I can still be a well-paid, fully professional cricketer."

That does not mean Winfield-Hill has officially shut the door on an international recall – and given her form this year, she should certainly be in consideration for the upcoming T20 World Cup in South Africa – but it has given her a fresh mindset.

With the WBBL and the Hundred offering franchise opportunities, and a women's IPL to be launched next season, it is becoming increasingly possible for female players to earn a living combining domestic cricket with overseas leagues.

"I'm at peace if I don't play (for England) again, because I can still be very good cricketer and still travel the world and still look to grow and push my game on," Winfield-Hill said.

"We've got The Hundred where you still get to be in the big dance.

"That's what makes you buzz, being in those sorts of games and environments, I get to come out here and play in another big dance (in the WBBL).

"I would be lying if I said that I've completely shut the door on England, if somebody comes and says you're in the T20 World Cup squad, it's a very tough decision to say that you don't want to be playing in a World Cup.

"But if it doesn't happen, I'm happy and I'm happy with just focusing on the team I'm playing for at the time."

The Stars are Winfield-Hill's fourth WBBL club, having previously spent time at the Brisbane Heat, Adelaide Strikers and Hobart Hurricanes.

But while she loves playing in the Big Bash, signing on with the Stars this season was not a straightforward decision; WBBL|08 clashes with the Rugby League World Cup in England, where Winfield-Hill's Australian-born wife Courtney is playing for England.

"A World Cup for anybody is like a huge deal and I guess equally, in my space as well, coming to a competition like the Big Bash is a big deal," Winfield-Hill explained.

"Especially given I'm in and out of the England team, so taking franchise opportunities might be the path I go down, who knows what's going to happen with the international space.

"It was actually quite a hard decision coming over this time … but what's been quite nice is that her family have gone over (from Australia), so they're all over there watching, which will be nice because it's usually just me and my mates watching her or my family."

Courtney, a former Queensland and Heat cricketer who Winfield-Hill met during her time at the club, switched codes after moving to England to be with her then-partner and now wife (the pair tied the knot in early 2020, just before COVID-19 shut down the world).

"Her intentions were always to come and play cricket when she moved over, but because of the visa situation in the UK, if you'd played professionally in Australia, you had to come on a sportsperson's visa to England," Winfield-Hill explained.

"But county cricket or domestic cricket in England at that time was not professional, so she wouldn't earn any money doing it (and) she wouldn't have been able to work or do anything like that.

"But she'd moved to a new country and she had my mates, but she didn't have her own mates, and I think she just had like a bit of a moment where she was just like, 'I've left 10 years of teaching, I've left a professional career as a cricketer, I'm on the other side of the Earth away from my friends and family, I'm just a bit lost'.

"And you need sport, we all do, you need teammates and some sort of purpose in different areas besides work.

"So she just went down to a Leeds Rhinos trial ... and Courtney being Courtney, she was bloody awesome at it."

A natural athlete, Courtney took to rugby like a duck to water, despite having not played the sport since she was 12 years old.

She had not expected to qualify to play for England in time for this World Cup, but when the event was pushed back a year due to COVID, she suddenly found herself eligible and in the mix.

And while Winfield-Hill is on the other side of the world, she was glued to the broadcast from Sydney in the early hours of Wednesday morning as her wife scored a hat-trick of tries in England's opening 72-4 win over Brazil.

"She's very good cricketer, I'm not taking it away from that, but I think rugby league suits her down to a tee. She's just fearless," Winfield-Hill continued.

"She gets to express herself differently (to cricket) ... she gets to smash a few people, pin her ears back and break the line and she's found her feet."

The pair have learned to make their marriage work despite often being ships in the night, especially during the northern summer, due to Lauren's cricket commitments and Courtney's rugby league and cricket coaching.

Image Id: D3D4F7B8E47A4F94A496226508610E8C Image Caption: Dual sports star Courtney Winfield-Hill bowls for the Brisbane Heat // Getty

"It's been something that we've definitely got better at, in terms of just balancing everything, stealing pockets of time when we can and making sure it's quality time spent together," Winfield-Hill said.

"It's certainly challenging at times and it takes a little bit of getting used to … I think I actually used to be worse than her because I was like the needy one.

"But we've both gotten better at it."

The Stars currently sit sixth on the WBBL|08 table with two wins, three losses and two no results from seven games to date.

Two of those defeats, to the Scorchers and the Heat, could easily have gone the other way.

Given many had written the young squad off before the season started following captain Meg Lanning's withdrawal, Winfield-Hill thrilled the club is starting to prove people wrong.

Image Id: D0083841253542AE9FA169C7928EE03F Image Caption: The Stars knocked off highly favoured Adelaide Strikers // Getty

"I think sometimes outwardly the results probably weren't there at the start of the competition, but I think if you break down some of those performances, there was some really promising stuff, even in defeat," she said.

"We're building really nice confidence amongst the group.

"I know that at the start, there was like a load of chat about it being a young group, and maybe quite low expectations and that sort of thing from an outward point of view.

"But internally we're pretty confident amongst ourselves that we can certainly compete and put ourselves right up there.

"I really enjoy being a part of a team that everyone's got a real role to play ... we probably haven't got any superstars or players that the whole team is impacted by, (but) we're a team of collectives that if we can do our role really well, everyone's got a purpose and a role to play ... I really enjoy being amongst those teams."

Tickets for Weber WBBL and KFC BBL games are on sale now. Get yours at cricket.com.au/big-bash