We are proud to be following the careers of two Hungerford international sportswomen, England fast bowler Lauren Bell and left wing Wales rugby player Carys Cox, both of whom we have known since their childhood days playing for Hungerford Cricket Club and Hungerford Rugby Club respectively.
July update
This week Lauren took 5-37 in the third one-day international in Bristol against New Zealand. You can see all of the wickets in this video clip on the BBC website.
Congratulations also to Carys who scored a second-half hat-trick as Wales recovered from a shaky first half to finally shrug off their visitors in their 52-20 victory over Spain at the weekend, which secured her team’s place at the 2025 World Cup.
April update
Hungerford’s international sportswomen enjoyed welcome support in fixtures on opposite sides of the world over the Easter weekend.
Carys Cox may have been representing Wales in Saturday’s Women’s Six Nations fixture against England, but there was plenty of backing for the Hungerford star at Bristol’s Ashton Gate stadium.
Thatcham and Hungerford Rugby Clubs between them took more than 70 West Berkshire Warriors girls and parents to support England as they stormed to a 46-10 win. The under-12s and under-14s teams formed by the two clubs used the trip to Bristol to celebrate as their first full season came to an end.
Left wing Carys, who qualifies for Wales through her dad, Rob Cox, began her rugby career with her home-town club and showed plenty to inspire the girls following in her footsteps. She joined the West Berkshire girls for a signing and selfie session after the game and even brought along England superstar Abby Dow, a team-mate from Ealing Trailfinders in the Women’s Premier League. Carys and Abby both began their representative journey as juniors playing for Berkshire and South West England.
Almost 12,000 miles away, another Hungerford star, Lauren Bell, was in action for the England women’s cricket team on their New Zealand tour. Having played a major role in the 4-1 T20 series win, pace bowler Lauren kept her great form going in Easter Monday’s 50-over international in Wellington. She finished with figures of 3-41 from 9.2 overs as England restricted the home side to 207 before securing a four-wicket win.
The live television coverage proved to have a family flavour when Lauren’s dad, Andy Bell, was interviewed on the sidelines by reporter James Tito. Andy and wife Morag are cheering on Lauren throughout the tour, and he was asked about the flag he had draped alongside him: “It’s Lauren’s home club, Hungerford. It goes wherever she goes.”
