Picture by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images. Josh Inglis with Geoff Marsh (r) and his parents Martin and Sarah along with his wife and child Megan and Oscar after receiving his Test cap in Galle earlier this year.
Strong Yorkshire, Strong England. That’s how the famous old phrase goes. Well, how about Strong Yorkshire, Strong Australia? The case of Josh Inglis certainly suggests that may be true as well.
The Western Australia wicketkeeper-batter is currently preparing for the Ashes, what would be his first taste of a rivalry which very much sees the 30-year-old straddle the divide. It starts in his home city of Perth.
Inglis was born in Leeds, before emigrating Down Under with his parents, Martin and Sarah at the age of 14. A former Yorkshire junior who progressed through to play second-team cricket, Inglis is in his adopted nation’s first Test squad for Friday’s Optus Stadium opener.
It may well be that Inglis, 30-years-old, has to be patient for Test cap number four – and his first on home soil. The previous three came on tours of Sri Lanka and the West Indies earlier this year. The success of Alex Carey leaves him as the man in possession of the gloves. But it would be no surprise to see him play at some point between now and early next year.
His old club Pool, of the Aire Wharfe League, are certainly hoping so.
“Josh played for us from when he was about seven until he left for Australia,” said first-team captain Charlie Bell. “He also came back to play for a season as an overseas player when he was 18. I think he actually missed out on 1,000 runs for the summer by two. I’m sure he was on 998.
“Myself and Josh are pretty much the same age, He’s a year above me, and he played throughout the juniors, represented all the age-groups Yorkshire stuff, etc, etc. We played together all the way through.”
Picture courtesy of Pool CC. Josh Inglis as a junior in the Aire Wharfe League.
With the Ashes just days away, it brings back memories of iconic series of the past. The obvious one was 2005 when emigrating to Perth was a few years away for Inglis.
“He would definitely have been supporting England at that stage,” laughed Bell.
It was actually when he came back to England, in 2013, that Inglis played three games for the White Rose twos alongside the likes of Ben Coad and Adil Rashid.
“He always stood out from an early age, to be fair,” said Bell. “He was scoring runs in the senior teams even at 12-years-old. “I think he made his first-team debut at 13 before he left, batting top order even then.
“He was very technically correct, but he had all the shots that you see from him now. He would go out there and reverse sweep and ramp, back when it wasn’t as popular as it is now.”
Another contemporary of Bell and Inglis was Jordan Thompson.
“Those are the two who have gone on to play professionally,” said Bell, 29, who still keeps in touch with Inglis.
Picture courtesy of Pool CC. Josh Inglis drives having returned to the club as an overseas player in 2013.
“There was a T20 game at Headingley a few years ago when he was playing for Leicestershire, and a few of us went down to watch and see him.
“I also spoke to him a couple of months ago because one of our lads was retiring, and we were doing a video. So Josh sent us a message.
“I actually think he’s getting married in the next couple of months as well.”
Given Inglis debuted in Australia’s Test team as a specialist batter in Sri Lanka earlier this year, it would be no surprise to see him do the same at some point during this series, especially if the likes of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood cause early problems and give the selectors something to think about.
Recalling when the Inglis’s opted to relocate, Bell said: “I think his parents just fancied it. It was on a bit of a whim from what I can remember.
“Martin actually came back to the club last year for a bit of a catch-up, so it was nice to see him.
“Josh’s younger brother Joe also played for us through the juniors. He’s playing club cricket out in Perth for Joondalup, which is their club there.”
Picture courtesy of Pool CC. Charlie Bell (bottom left) lines up in Pool’s junior system alongside Josh Inglis (second from left, bottom).
One of Inglis’s appearances in 2013 came in a clash with a Burley-in-Wharfedale side including a certain Harry Brook. The latter won, though Brook posted a duck and Inglis contributed 54.
Bell didn’t play in that game in question, though has played against Brook down the years.
“We actually did ok against him,” said Bell. “Brooky didn’t score too many runs against us.
“I mean, he was young at the time – he’s three years younger than me.
“I actually thought that Josh was better at a young age, but then Brooky’s talent accelerated very quickly between kind of 16-18. He’s gone on to another level, and he’s a fantastic player now.”
Pool finished eighth in the 12-team Aire Wharfe Premier Division in 2025.
Bell explained: “We had a tough spell about 10-15 years ago where we had a lack of players, whether it was older players stopping playing because they were having kids or moving away.
Picture courtesy of Pool CC. Pool’s Arthington Lane home.
“We decided that we were going to have to basically invest in our junior sides. We had to accept that we were probably going to have a couple of years of tough cricket and trying to learn and teach these guys.
“I took over as first-team captain at 18 or 19, and we said, ‘Right, we’re going to basically build things up’. And we’re reaping the rewards of that now.
“We’ve got a really young side, loads of juniors – we‘ve got about 100 juniors who play down at Pool.
“We’ve been in the top of the Premier Division now, I think, four years in a row, kind of finishing mid-table all the time. But it’s positive going forwards. We’re in a good place.
“We’ve got two senior sides on a Saturday and one on a Sunday.
“And, like I say, we have plenty of juniors, all the way up from All Stars to Under 7s to 18s.”
When you look at the officials page on Pool’s Play Cricket site, one thing which is noticeable is that there are a multiple examples of people chipping in with different jobs.
Picture courtesy of Pool CC. First-team captain and club chair Charlie Bell.
Bell is first-team captain and club chair, for example, while Will Pallister also plays in the first team and is the groundsman. They are just two.
“It’s a good set-up,” said Bell. “It’s hard work, but that’s club cricket and it’s rewarding.
“We have issues fundraising because we don’t own our bar which is by the cricket pitch. So, we don’t get any return from there. We have to kind of fundraise and raise money elsewhere too because the cost of cricket is exponentially high, and it keeps on rising doesn’t it.
“We have various people involved in fundraising. We had our annual dinner on Friday just gone, which is a really important night for us.”
No doubt on that evening, there would have been a few glasses raised to the success of Josh Inglis. That may change, however, if he ends up winning the Ashes for the Aussies!
