Lauren Winfield
The England Women’s batter on the big year ahead
IT’S set to be a hectic 2017 for the England women’s team with a World Cup on home soil before an Ashes Down Under, but Lauren Winfield is adamant they will thrive on the big stage.
England will travel to all four host grounds, Derby, Leicester, Taunton and Bristol, in their seven group-stage games in this summer’s ICC Women’s World Cup, with Winfield relishing the variety.
The hosts open their campaign against India in Derby on June 26 before taking on Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and West Indies over the following three weeks. The top four after the round robin league will qualify for the semi-finals with the final played at Lord’s on July 23.
And with the women’s game becoming more and more competitive with every passing year, Winfield knows there will be no easy games if they’re to reach the Home of Cricket.
“It will be a pretty manic schedule but that’s what World Cups are all about,” she said.“It’s important to get around the country and the fixtures give us chance to do that
“Women’s cricket has evolved over the last five years. The top teams were always the top teams and the gap was pretty big and we had easier games, they don’t come around very often now.
“Anyone is capable of beating anyone – that’s what is so exciting with women’s cricket as the gaps are closing.
“There are advantages when the crowd are behind you. You want to play on the big stage so hopefully we can attract good crowds and everyone gets behind us.
“World Cups are special, especially on home soil. I think we will go into the competition not as favourites but we know we’ve come a long way and been playing good cricket in recent times.
“If we can do that and carry on doing that, learning and progressing there’s a lot of cricket to play between the first and last match.
“We have come a long way as a group over the last eight months, we are enjoying our cricket together and going out as a tight group.”
Winfield has been with Brisbane Heat in the Women’s Big Bash League over the winter, with her side being beaten by Perth Scorchers in the semi-final.
The 26-year-old regrouped with her England team-mates last week and the squad will begin their preparations for the summer with a trip to the UAE, returning at the end of April.
And there isn’t much time at the end of the tournament before Winfield and her team-mates jet off to Australia to try and regain the Ashes they lost on home soil in 2015.
The series will be the first to include a day-night Test match, with the North Sydney Oval playing host to the only red-ball game of the multi-format series.
England begin the Ashes at AB Field in Brisbane for the first of three ODIs on October 22 before the day-night Test from November 9-12.
The North Sydney Oval will also play host to the first of a trio of T20 matches with the series concluding with back-to-back T20s at Manuka Oval in Canberra.
The day-night Test marks another exciting development for the women’s game and Winfield hopes that it will be a major boost to the longer format, which has been a rare sight in recent years.
“We really enjoy playing Test cricket but it is difficult when you don’t get exposed to a lot of it, to adapt and make your skills last days rather than hours,” she added
“The day-night Test is really exciting; it’s gone down well in the men’s game. We don’t play a lot of Test cricket, so it’s always a different challenge and nice to play a different format.
“It should be a huge spectacle and something that will be great to be involved with.
“When we were over there last time it was a great series for us, to win in their back yard was a huge achievement for us and something we want to replicate.
“To be involved in an Ashes Series and World Cup you want to be testing yourself against the best players it’s something we are really excited about.”