Lauren Hemp backs new signing Vivianne Miedema ahead of Man City title push | OneFootball

Lauren Hemp is hoping that losing out on the Women’s Super League title to Chelsea last season will only make Manchester City more committed to succeed. The Lioness is also looking forward to playing alongside new teammate Vivianne Miedema, who has joined the Citizens after leaving Arsenal.

Hemp is also an avid cricket fan and used to play the sport when she was younger, before turning her full attention to football. The City forward was speaking at a KP Snacks event at Cheetham Hill, the site of one of 100 all-weather community cricket pitches they will install across England and Wales by 2025. The KP Snacks event was hosted in Manchester ahead of the 2024 season of The Hundred, a 100-ball cricket tournament.

The Hundred hopes to inspire a new generation to take up cricket as part of its mission to create more than one million opportunities for people to get more active across the UK by 2033. The game consists of 100 balls, and whoever gets the most runs wins.

Hemp described the campaign as ‘getting families into cricket who are used to playing football instead’. She also highlighted its importance of ‘keeping people active and getting those who maybe haven’t necessarily played the sport before just to get up and give it a go’.

During the event, Hemp bemused fans as she started to bowl with a full-sized football to highlight that cricket can be played with whatever equipment they have available.

Hemp’s background with cricket

Although a prolific attacker for both the Lionesses and Manchester City, Hemp hasn’t always had her mind set on football. At the event, she revealed: “I used to play cricket when I was a kid and ended up having to choose between cricket and football when I was 16.”

Despite opting to focus on football, the Euro 2022 champion still plays cricket in her free time. Hemp also admitted she would ‘love to be the first woman in a long time to play in both football and cricket World Cups’. However, sadly for fans of the winger, she thinks the days to pursue such a dream ‘are over’.

Hemp on England and Man City hopes

After England confirmed their place at Euro 2025 to defend their crown, Hemp has stressed that the team are ‘pretty confident’ ahead of the tournament. The Lionesses will hope to make it back-to-back triumphs in Switzerland, after their fairytale run in 2022 saw them lift their first ever major trophy, on home soil no less.

“I think we’re all in a good place,” Hemp said. “I think it’s hard especially at the end of the season to pick up where we left off, we’ve done the main aim and qualified for next summer, which is exciting. Obviously there’s going to be a target on our backs going into the Euros, being reigning champions, but I know that the group that we’ve got and the talent that we’ve got within it and the young ones coming up through the system as well, that we’re going to go on and have a great squad and hopefully retain that.”

As England captain Leah Williamson has previously mentioned, they are aware they have a ‘target on their backs’ but know they have the talent in the squad to retain their European title.

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Following the WSL fixture announcement, Hemp stated that she is ‘excited’ to build upon last season and believes that City have ‘a great squad to achieve good things’. Gareth Taylor’s side piled the pressure on Chelsea in a nail-biting title battle that threatened Emma Hayes with a trophy-less final campaign. The Blues were victorious in the end, but only on goal difference.

Read: Euro 2025 play-offs fixtures and dates announced

“I’m really excited. Coming so close but not quite doing it, I think that makes you more hungry to go on and succeed in the future, and I want to do that this season,” Hemp said. “I desperately wanted to do it last season, but unfortunately it didn’t go that way. The fixture list has just come out so I’m really excited, and obviously we’ve got a big game as the first in the season, which should be a good one. I’m really excited and I think we’ve got a great squad to go on to achieve good things.”

Man City will take on Arsenal in a highly-anticipated opening day clash. The two WSL heavyweights will lock horns at the Emirates for a thrilling match-up, made even more eye-catching following Miedema’s transfer.

Vivianne Miedema Signs a contract for Manchester City at Manchester City Football Academy on June 05, 2024 (Photo by Isaac Parkin/Manchester City FC)

“I’ve met her a lot and come up against her on the pitch a lot of times. We’ve actually exchanged shirts as well, after I’ve played against Holland, so I see us as friends already,” Hemp said when asked about playing alongside Miedema. “Hopefully that relationship will get even stronger going into the season. I think she’ll be a great addition to the team. Obviously, you’ve got a fellow Dutch in Jill Roord, who unfortunately tore her ACL, but she’s been a very pivotal player in our squad, so hopefully Viv will be able to do the same.”

KP Snacks, the Official Team Partner of The Hundred, is continuing its initiative to build 100 new community cricket pitches across England and Wales, with 35 brand new pitches going down in 2024. To find out more and search for your nearest pitch, visit: www.everyonein.co.uk/pitchfinder

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