Lauren Bell is a British cricketer who has played for teams Berkshire Women’s cricket team, Southern Vipers, Southern Brave, and Middlesex Women’s cricket team. In 2023, she was picked by UP Warriorz for the Women’s Premier League 2023. She is a right-hand batsman and right-arm fast-medium bowler.
Wiki/Biography
Lauren Katie Bell was born on Tuesday, 2 January 2001 (age 22 years; as of 2022) in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. Her zodiac is Capricorn. She pursued a degree in sports science at Loughborough University, England. When she turned 16, she was selected by Vipers academy. At this time, her father asked her to choose between football and cricket because he could not afford both games. She chose cricket and started training at Vipers academy.
Physical Appearance
Height: 6′ 0″
Hair Colour: Blonde
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Lauren’s father’s name is Andy. Her mother’s name is Morag Bell, who is a teacher.
Lauren Bell with her parents
Her sister’s name is Colette Bell, who is a cricketer.
Lauren Bell with her sister
Career
Domestic Cricket
When she was 16 years old, she started playing cricket for Hungerford Cricket Club and became the first girl to play for Bradfield College. In 2015, she joined Berkshire Women’s Cricket team and participated in the Women’s County Championship. In the tournament, she took seven wickets in eight matches. In 2019, her team Berkshire gave her on loan to the Middlesex Women’s cricket team for the Twenty20 Cup. In 2018, she made her debut for the Southern Vipers in the Women’s Cricket Super League. In the 2019 season of the league, her team reached the finals but lost the match to Western Storm. In 2019, she played the Kia Super League against Loughborough Lightning. In 2020, she represented Vipers in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and won the tournament in the 2021 season.
Lauren Bell with her team after winning Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy
In December 2020, she became one of the 41 women cricketers to receive a full-time domestic cricket contract. In 2020, she joined the Southern Brave team for The Hundred Tournament but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament got cancelled. She got a chance to play for the Southern Brave in the 2021 season. In April 2022, she represented Southern Brave for the 2022 season of The Hundred.
Lauren Bell with the team Southern Brave
International Cricket
In 2019, she was included in the England women’s Academy squad and played against Australia A. She also received a contract for the 2019-2020 season. In 2020, when the England team announced training during the COVID-19 pandemic, she was among the 24 cricketers who got a call, but she was not included in the playing squad. In December 2021, she was included in England’s A squad Women’s Ashes for the Australia tour. In January 2022, she was selected for the England squad for the one-off Test match. In February 2022, she became a reserved player in England’s team for the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.
Lauren Bell with England squad for the World Cup
She made her test debut in June 2022 for England’s women’s cricket team. She was included in the Test squad for the one-off match against South Africa. On 2 July 2022, she was included in the One Day International (WODI) squad against South Africa and on 15 July 2022, she made her WODI debut against South Africa. In November 2022, she signed her first England central contract.
World Premier League
In 2023, she was bought by UP Warriorz for the Women’s Premier League auction held in February 2023.
Domestic/State Team
- 2018–present: Southern Vipers
- 2021–present: Southern Brave
- 2023-present: UP Warriorz
Facts/Trivia
- She was given the name ‘The Shard’ by her teammates because she is tall.
- She took training under her coach Lisa Keightley.
- Her England jersey number is 63.
- In an interview, she talked about the incident that took place in the 2022 ODI series between India and England where Deepti Sharma ran out an England player in ‘Mankad’ Charlie Dean style. The incident became a topic of discussion at that time. In the interview, she said,
England as a team have put that behind us and hopefully India have as well. It’s a fresh World Cup and a fresh game so that’s the focus. We don’t think about it and don’t talk about it as a team. There’s been no discussion about backing up in your crease. That’s just something that happened in the summer and it’s been left there for sure.”
- In September 2022, in the T20I match between the England Women and Indian Women, she became the player to deliver the fastest delivery to Smriti Mandhana. with a 172kph.
- In August 2022, she got a chance to inspire young players of the charitable organization Chance to Shine.
- She often posts pictures of herself drinking alcohol on social media.
Lauren Bell (centre) holding a glass of wine