Lauren Katie Bell was born in Swindon, Wiltshire on 2nd January 2001, and made her county debut for Berkshire aged 14 in 2015, and was quickly nicknamed ‘The Shard’ because of her height.
She joined the Vipers in 2018 and has gone on to be one of the team's leading bowlers, using her pace and height to her advantage.
In December 2020, she was one of the 41 players to receive a full-time professional contract.
Bell was signed by the Southern Brave for the 2020 Hundred which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but she was retained by the Brave and took 12 wickets, sixth most in the whole competition, at an average of under 16.
Across the 2021 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and Charlotte Edwards Cup, Bell took 14 wickets and received her first England call-up for the 2022 Women's Ashes in Australia, before she was named a travelling reserve in England's 2022 World Cup squad in New Zealand.
Bell played in six Charlotte Edwards Cup matches where she took five wickets, including best T20 match figures for the Southern Vipers against Lightning at The Ageas Bowl, as she took 3-12 in four overs in a day/night Charlotte Edwards Cup match, where she dismissed Marie Kelly (0), Sarah Bryce (1), and Tammy Beaumont (17).
Off the back of a strong start to the 2022 season, Bell was named in England's Test squad to play South Africa, and made her international debut on Monday 27th June when she took the wickets of Lizelle Lee and Marizanne Kapp.
She went on to make her international debut across all three formats, and has 35 international wickets to her name as of October 2023.
In November 2022, Bell was handed her first ECB central contract, alongside fellow Vipers Charlie Dean and Freya Kemp, joining Danni Wyatt already centrally contracted.
Playing just seven matches for the Vipers in 2023 in a summer where she played a huge part in England Women’s Ashes series, Bell took 11 wickets with a best of 4-37 against South East Stars at Beckenham – her second best figures in a Vipers shirt.
In The Hundred, she took nine wickets in seven matches, and finished the competition third in Southern Brave’s wicket charts as the team in green lifted the trophy for the first time in three attempts to give Anya Shrubsole her fairytale ending.
Bell ended the Women’s Ashes as England’s second leading wicket taker with 14 – only Sophie Ecclestone took more wickets.
Over the winter, Bell toured India where she took five wickets in the one-off Test match and two IT20s, before picking up nine wickets on England Women’s white-ball tour of New Zealand where she played six matches.
She carried her form into the summer of 2024, taking nine wickets across a four-match white-ball series with Pakistan. Career-best figures in ODI cricket against New Zealand followed with 5-37, her first five-for on the international stage.
A devasting spell of 4-11 from 20 balls for the Southern Brave saw her run through the Northern Supercharges top-order, including the prized scalps of Annabel Sutherland and Alice Davidson-Richards. She finished The Hundred with nine wickets at 20.77 from eight matches, but the Brave failed to escape the group stagers for the first time.
In England’s one-off Test match against South Africa in December, Bell was outstanding in leading the attack. Figures of 4-49 and 4-27 – a career best in First-Class cricket - helped propel England to a 286-run victory, collecting Player of the Match in the process.
Bell featured five times for England in their disappointing Ashes series at the start of 2025, taking seven wickets as England were whitewashed 16-0.
