The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has onboarded keeper-batter Lauren Winfield-Hill’s spouse, Courtney Winfield-Hill to the coaching set-up for upcoming tours of England senior women’s team.
Courtney Winfield-Hill was born in Australia and played domestic cricket in the country. She not only moved to a new base in the United Kingdom but also switched to a new sport, Rugby. Courtney Hill then went on to represent England in the Rugby League World Cup in 2022. She got married to the 34-year-old wicket-keeper batter from England, Lauren Winfield-Hill in the year 2020.
Courtney is now set to join the senior England women’s team set-up as an assistant coach for their upcoming all-format tour to South Africa, starting from 24th November 2024 to 15th December 2024. She will continue to stay with England’s coaching set-up for the Women’s Ashes, early next year.
“Courtney has played such an important role in developing the up-and-coming players on our international pathway and adds tremendous value in any environment she is part of,” commented England’s women’s Cricket Director Jonathan Finch on Courtney Winfield-Hill’s contribution to the player development pathway and the kind of value she could potentially add to the set-up.
Courtney also represented the Queensland Fire in Australia Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) and she also went on to represent the Brisbane Heat in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) in 2015/16. She also played a stand-alone game for the Heat in the 3rd edition of the tournament in the year 2017-18, before switching to Rugby. After her retirement from the newly adopted sport, she moved back to cricket, albeit in a different role, donning the hat of a coach.
She has worked with the England Pathways Program, actively involved with the Trent Rockets in The Hundred (Women’s), the Brisbane Heat in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Women’s Premier League (WPL) in India. She has also worked with the Northern Diamonds as a regional academy coach. She has also worked with England A (Women) and the Under-19 squads. In a step-up to her coaching career, her role as an assistant coach with the senior England women’s cricket team for the upcoming, couple of potentially high-octane series would provide her with an opportunity to groom the youngsters and guide the experienced individuals with a slightly different perspective.
This will be her 2nd stint in the coaching set-up for England, although, in her previous instance, she worked with a fairly young and inexperienced group of players on their white-ball tour to Ireland in September, earlier this year. Tasting success with the senior side on the all-format tour to South Africa followed by an all-format Women’s Ashes Down Under, she would add immense value given her repertoire as a coach.
“She will bring a different outlook on the game into the coaching team which will ensure the support we provide to players continually moves forward in what will be an exciting period for the senior team,” said England’s Director of Women’s Cricket Jonathan Finch on bringing in a different perspective with the inclusion of Courtney Winfield-Hill in the coaching set-up of the senior women’s team.
The England team will visit South Africa for an all-format series from 24th November 2024 to 15th December 2024. The bilateral series will include a three-match T20I series followed by a three-match ODI series and then a one-off Test match, before traveling to Australia for the Women’s Ashes.
(Quotes sourced from BBC Sport)
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