Lauren Winfield-Hill: I've fallen in love with the game again

NICK FRIEND AT LORD'S: Winfield-Hill hit her fifth half century of the competition to go with a single hundred, having averaged 78.3 in the process

Lauren Winfield-Hill described "falling in love with the game again" as her highlight of the summer after she laid the foundations for Northern Diamonds' two-run victory in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final.

Winfield-Hill, dropped by England during this year's World Cup and without a cap since, has recovered from that disappointment to end the summer as the leading run-scorer in the domestic 50-over competition, winning the tournament's player-of-the-year award in the process. She scored the fourth-most runs in The Hundred, winning with Oval Invincibles after moving south from Northern Superchargers.

"It's no secret I found the last winter hard, bubbles hard and being dropped from England hard, and I was in a bad place in cricket, away from cricket, everything," she said. "I could barely function as a human being.

"So, to be able to turn it around, fall in love with the game again and take pressure off myself has been the most enjoyable bit. I've loved every game and it's reflected in the way I've performed."

After Diamonds were asked to bat first by Georgia Adams at the toss – on the same pitch as was used for Saturday's ODI between England and India – Winfield-Hill guided Northern Diamonds through a potentially tricky beginning, putting on 83 runs for the first wicket with Linsey Smith, before a collapse of four wickets in 15 balls ended with her runout, which looked as though it might derail Diamonds' fourth attempt to win a regional final in three years.

^{Lauren Winfield-Hill was named the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy player of the year (Paul Harding/Getty Images)}

But Bess Heath, the other player involved in her runout, dug in alongside 20-year-old Leah Dobson to drag Diamonds away from the edge of the mire and to a final total of 215 for 9, which was just about sufficient by the time Charlotte Taylor could only muster two runs from the final ball of the women's regional summer, with four runs needed to force a super over.

"I'm chuffed to bits," added Winfield-Hill. "We've come close against the Vipers a few times now and we’ve got a few wounds against them you know where they have always managed to get over the line

"But this year our preparation, how tight we've been as a team and how different people have contributed at different times and that was the difference today."

Her innings of 65 was her fifth half century of the competition along with a single hundred, averaging 78.3 in the process. Her captain, Hollie Armitage, was the next-highest run-scorer but still 127 runs shy of Winfield-Hill, the domestic cricketer of the summer.

Related Topics

• Northern Diamonds win Heyhoe Flint Trophy by two runs