Former England wicketkeeper-batter Lauren Winfield-Hill has criticised the lack of English captains in the 2026 edition of the Women's Hundred.
Of the eight teams in the Hundred, only three - MI London, Sunrisers Leeds, and London Spirit - have captains who are English. With the new influx of private investment to the league, after the England & Wales Cricket Board opened the sale of at least a 49 per cent stake in the franchises, Winfield-Hill believes power to decide captains now rests with the owners
and not the coaches. She, however, referred to the pair of Holly Armitage and Lisa Keightley, MI London captain and coach, who have previously worked together in the past. Armitage is one of three English captains in the league.
“It's disappointing, no doubt about it. I think it depends on the relationship with the owners and the head coach as well a little bit. The world we live in everybody wants the young superstars and the up-and-coming rising stars of the game. They're the ones who get bums on seats, whether it's in a leadership position or signings in the auction,” said Winfield-Hill, speaking on Wisden's Women's Cricket Weekly Podcast.
“I think potentially in some teams the power may lie more with the owners than the head coaches. Money is power and that's just the nature of it. Would MI naturally have chosen Holly Armitage? Maybe not. She's not a huge shiny name in the international world, but Lisa's [Keightley] obviously worked with her a lot and knows the qualities that Holly has, and they have that relationship," she added.
England found themselves in a situation without succession planning when long-term skipper Heather Knight stepped down in 2025, leaving them with no genuine leadership contenders bar a few. Winfield-Hill, referring to the lack of options in the Men's Test team after Ben Stokes' recent retirement, emphasised the importance of domestic captaincy options in leagues like these, which would help younger players develop leadership qualities. She plays for the Sunrisers Leeds, where English all-rounder Dani Gibson is the captain of the side.
“The bottom line is it is quite disappointing. The fact that we aren't exposing a lot of English players to these leadership positions, because it's a little bit like what's happening in the men's game as well when they're like, 'Oh who's going to captain the Test side?' I just think it's got to be a constant conveyor belt that is exposed, and you want a handful of people that could do it at any given moment. I know in terms of at Sunrisers, Adi [Adrian Birrell] spoke to a few of us about captaincy and then obviously choosing Gibbo [Gibson] and that sort of stuff. He was really open with that and he's strong,” said Winfield-Hill.
Gibson, Armitage, and Spirit's Charlie Dean are the only English captains in the tournaments, with the Aussie quartet of Sophie Molineux, Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, and Meg Lanning, along with New Zealand's Sophie Devine, leading the other five teams. In contrast, six of the eight teams in the Men's Hundred are led by English players.
