THEY are justifiably proud of England star Lauren Winfield at Stamford Bridge.

So tomorrow, when the village cricket team takes on Sheriff Hutton Bridge, they may need to be forgiven for keeping eyes on the television screen.

For Winfield, who stills plays occasionally for the Yorkshire Premier League North side, will be on international duty for England against India in the opening game of the ICC Women’s World Cup.

A total of 31 World Cup matches will be shown live on Sky TV over the next few weeks and is further proof of the growth in the women’s game.

Winfield’s father Andy will be attending the clash at Derby’s County Ground instead of keeping score, as he normally would on a Saturday, for Stamford Bridge.

Both Lauren, who also captains Yorkshire, and Andy are held in the highest esteem at Low Catton Road and captain Matthew Beckett hopes today brings victories for both Stamford Bridge and England.

“We all wish Lauren the best for the World Cup,” he said. “It is great to see someone come through our juniors and move into the professional and international game.

“All the lads take a keen interest in her performances and we will watch as much as we can on the TV,” he added. “Ladies cricket is going from strength to strength.

“She comes back to support us, whenever she can and still makes herself available to play when her cricketing commitments allow.

“Andy is our scorer and has been associated with the club for many years. He is a fantastic clubman and gets involved in all sorts of things. But I guess he won’t be scoring as much over the next few weeks!”

Fourth-placed Stamford Bridge are in excellent form ahead of tomorrow’s trip to fifth-placed Sheriff Hutton Bridge with sights firmly set on breaking into the top three.

“The bowlers are definitely the reason why we are doing as well as we are,” says Beckett.

“The batting has not quite fired up yet but we have five bowlers who have taken 15 wickets.

“We are picking up some good results and playing some very good cricket,” he added. “At the beginning of the season, we were winning one then losing one, but in this last month we have started putting good performances together and put 30-40 points on the board in a relatively short period of time.

“We have got a very tough game this weekend against Sheriff Hutton Bridge. It should be exciting. They are an excellent team and have a good captain in Adam Fisher. Whoever they play in this league needs to play their best cricket to come out on top.”

Only 15 points currently separate the top five clubs in YPLN with York leading the title race by three points from champions Harrogate.

Both are away this weekend with York at struggling Hull and Harrogate in action at Acomb.

Clifton Alliance are desperate to end a run of five consecutive defeats as they entertain Woodhouse Grange. Bottom of the table Easingwold still have only two points after 10 games and have a tricky looking home test against sixth-placed Scarborough.