Ask the former rugby league international Courtney Winfield-Hill about her playing days and she will tell you – only half-jokingly – that she isn’t retired, she is just on a gap year. It’s just that so far, that gap “year” has lasted two (she hasn’t stepped on to a rugby pitch since the end of the 2022 World Cup), and has involved a dizzying number of coaching gigs and a return to her original sport: cricket.
Her latest assignment is as an assistant coach on England Women’s tour to Ireland, which starts on Saturday with the first of three one-day internationals in Belfast, followed by two T20s in Dublin. The matches are full internationals but a clash with preparation for the World Cup in the United Arab Emirates means England are effectively sending an A squad.
