Northern Diamonds chase ducks as they target direct route to Lord's final

“We have a little rubber duck called Lizzie, who we give to the player-of-the-match,” said the in-form wicketkeeper batter.

“And there are more and more girls getting their hands on Lizzie. That’s a good sign.

“We laugh about it, but it’s true. More girls are getting their hands on her.

“That’s because more girls are standing up and performing. That’s what we want.

“She’s quite nice is Lizzie. She’s all dressed up and has a purple hat.”

Winfield-Hill and captain Hollie Armitage will have both been well acquainted with Lizzie during a run of five successive 50-over wins either side of the Hundred.

And whoever gets her this weekend will hopefully have given the Diamonds a huge leg up in terms of their hopes of winning a maiden regional title. The Diamonds face arch-rivals Southern Vipers in a blockbuster winner takes all top-of-the-table clash at Headingley on Saturday (10.30am).

Both teams are locked on 24 points at the top of the table - the defending champions Vipers just ahead on net run-rate - and it is the final round of group fixtures.

Whoever wins advances directly through to the Lord’s final next Sunday. The loser, meanwhile, must face South East Stars in the semi-final play-off clash on Wednesday.

The Diamonds and the Vipers are in scintillating form. They have each won all five games so far, added to the No Result which came following the abandonment of the September 9 round as a result of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

The Diamonds head into the Headingley clash on the back of Sunday’s superb 104-run win over Western Storm at Taunton when they posted a competition record score of 334-6 and defended it comfortably, bowling the hosts out for 230. It ensured a five-point bonus point victory.

Winfield-Hill impressed with 74, but captain Armitage was the day’s star and secured the company of Lizzie with an unbeaten 131 plus two wickets and two catches.

“That was probably the most complete performance we’ve had in 50-over cricket,” said Winfield-Hill.

“We had batters scoring big runs and we bowled a team out, which is exactly what you want.

“It was tough work out there in the second half. Sometimes when you set such a big total and it’s never in reach, it becomes quite a tough grind.

“It was a good all-round performance.”

Winfield-Hill continued: “The best thing is that we are moving into crunch time and we have a lot of players putting their hands up and who are in form.

“Lizzie Scott had a good debut, our spinners were great.

“Having Leah Dobson back from injury, we’ve got Hollie in good touch, Bess Heath whacking it. Linsey Smith is in a good place as well.

“You need more than one or two players to be in a good place at once to win crunch matches and hopefully finals. We also have some younger players who’ve had a taste of it and done well.”

The Diamonds will be without injured duo Beth Langston (knee) and Jenny Gunn (broken hand), while Rachel Slater has travelled to Abu Dhabi with Scotland for the T20 World Cup qualifiers.