Northern Diamonds confirm professional cohort for 2023 season

Lauren Winfield-Hill has signed her maiden domestic contract while Leah Dobson, Phoebe Turner and Emma Marlow have signed maiden professional contracts

Northern Diamonds have confirmed their 10 senior contracted players for the 2023 season.

Lauren Winfield-Hill has signed her maiden domestic contract following the expiration of her central England contract. The wicketkeeper-batter was crowned player of the tournament for the 2022 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, scoring 470 runs (one century, five half-centuries) as Diamonds picked up their maiden title.

Leah Dobson, Phoebe Turner and Emma Marlow, meanwhile, have signed their maiden professional contracts.

Dobson made her debut for Diamonds in 2021 and made six appearances last season while Turner and Marlow made their senior bows in 2022. They chalked up eight and 11 appearances, respectively.

Elsewhere, captain Hollie Armitage and Netherlands international Sterre Kalis have signed three-year contract extensions while Bess Heath, Beth Langston, Katie Levick and Rachel Slater have all put pen to paper on two-year deals.

Two players have left the club, with Linsey Smith moving to Southern Vipers and Jenny Gunn calling time on her professional career.

^{Hollie Armitage and Sterre Kalis have signed three-year contracts [Getty Images]}

At the end of October, the ECB confirmed an addition £3.5m funding for the women's domestic game, with each region guaranteed seven ECB-funded professional players from November 2022 and 10 by February 2023.

However, using funding from Yorkshire CCC, Northern Diamonds have fast-tracked all of the contracts to start in November.

Commenting on the new additions to professional ranks, director of cricket, James Carr, said: "Leah is a dynamic cricketer. She has juggled work, life and cricket over the last two or three years, and this contract gives her the opportunity to be a full-time pro and have more contact time with coaches and teammates.

"Her innings in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint final (34 off 50 balls) was probably her most mature innings to date. She batted slightly out of position in that game as well. She's a middle-order bat in 50-over cricket, and she was kind of coming in as a finisher.

"Emma's inclusion in the seniors last summer was very much to be a squad player and to stretch her over and above the academy stuff. But she progressed quicker than we thought. Her readiness was probably miscalculated by us in a positive way, and she's become a mainstay of the team. It was a no brainer to give her a contract.

"Phoebe is an outstanding character, and she's beyond her years in terms of her maturity and attitude towards the game. To be able to offer her a viable career at 19-years-old is fantastic.

"Lauren is one of the best batters in the country, regardless of whether she's got an England contract or not.

"When she's at home with us, she just looks so comfortable. She's scored seven half-centuries and a hundred for us this summer, added to a successful campaign down south in The Hundred. If she continues to perform, she has every chance of getting back in that England team.

"But she's giving back to the Diamonds by bringing those elite behaviours back to our structure and helping to bring on the next generation of talent in the region."

Related Topics

• Jenny Gunn retires from professional cricket
• ECB announce £3.5m funding increase for professional women's domestic cricket
• Linsey Smith leaves Northern Diamonds for Southern Vipers