LAUREN Winfield believes her Yorkshire Diamonds team will relish the contrast of their two home fixtures in the Kia Super League this summer.

The Diamonds launch their campaign at home to Lancashire Thunder at Headingley on Friday, August 11, one of six KSL fixtures that will be televised live by Sky this year.

This is the first part of a double-header which also includes the NatWest T20 Blast clash between the old Roses rivals.

The following Sunday, August 20, the Diamonds will hit the road by taking a home game to the north of the county at York Cricket Club – a switch that Winfield has special reasons to welcome.

"It's nice and local for me," said the Diamonds captain, having made the much longer trip to Hove as tickets went on sale for this year's Finals Day to be held in Sussex on Friday September 1.

"I live at Stamford Bridge, which is only ten minutes away from the middle of York. I was down at the ground this week for a second-team game and I think it will be great for us.

"It's a good ground, a good pitch, it spreads the KSL around the county a bit and we should also get a more intimate atmosphere, where the crowds feel closer.

"It's nice to have a bit of both – the contrast between that and Headingley for the televised game against Lancashire.

"I always try and go to the Yorkshire-Lancashire games in the Blast, usually on the Western Terrace, and I know they're the games that the clubs look forward to.

"Whatever way we can increase the interest around the KSL is great. The link with the men's games will hopefully take it to a new audience and having the games on Sky is great as well."

Both Yorkshire and Lancashire will be desperate to hit the ground running after finishing joint-bottom of the table in the first KSL season, each with a single win from five matches.

Winfield said: "It obviously didn't go quite as we'd planned last year. It's quite a tough competition in that you don't have many games, so if you don't start well you're chasing your tail a little bit.

"We'll definitely set our sights on that first game – the first two games are really crucial. If we can get wins on the board early, we'll make it a bit easier for ourselves.

"As a whole, we'll look to improve on last year. I think we're a better squad. We've lost Rich Pyrah, who's now in the men's set-up full time, but we've got a great replacement in Paul Grayson, who is similar in how he comes across, in terms of gelling a team early and the culture.

"On the playing side, I think we're more balanced because all three of our overseas players are multi-skilled rather than specialists."

For Kia Super League ticket information visit https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/389455