Noah Kelly is Yorkshire’s newest professional with an eye for a trophy. Continuing that would be nice as the Driffield Town batter embarks on a new chapter at Headingley.
Kelly, 18, signed a two-and-a-half-year rookie contract at the beginning of the month and could well make his first-team debut in the forthcoming Metro Bank One-Day Cup, which starts this week.
First-team coach Ottis Gibson has admitted he plans to get the left-hander involved at some stage over the next few weeks.
So now is the perfect time to find out more about a player who has been with Yorkshire since the age of 10 and has graduated through the age-groups, scoring a whole load of runs.
When his pro contract was announced, Academy lead coach Tom Craddock described Kelly amassing over 4,500 runs in the Academy and age-groups as an “astonishing effort”.
Kelly is a player whose first taste of second-team cricket at the back end of 2022 coincided with Yorkshire winning the four-day Championship title that season. At the same time, he celebrated winning the Yorkshire Premier League North title with Driffield Town. Quite the double, especially for a 16-year-old at the time.
Speak to Kelly about his development and what’s clear is that Yorkshire have an affable, engaging and confident young man on their hands.
He was with the first team for the first time during the latter stages of the Championship defeat against Middlesex at Lord’s in April when he undertook 12th man duties as part of a squad including England stars Harry Brook and Joe Root, who both played in that game.
That’s not a bad place to start this chat with Kelly.
“It was one of those experiences I don’t think I’ll ever forget – with it being at Lord’s as well,” he said.
“It’s one of your bucket list things. There are some established pros who don’t even get to play there. To be able to go and carry the drinks, learn so much, was unbelievable.
“I stuck my pads on in the morning, and myself and Ali Maiden went to the nets half an hour before everyone else was due to.
“I had about 15-20 minute hit and then just stood as umpire and watched for an hour as Joe and Harry batted.
“When they were at the non-striker’s end, I was just badgering them with questions. I was working on a few things at the time that those two do unbelievably well. So I was just trying to pick the brains as best as I could.”
He didn’t give either of them out whilst standing as umpire, did he?
“No, no, definitely not,” he laughed.
So what did he speak to the two superstars about?
Kelly continued: “With Rooty, I talked to him about my trigger against spin. It’s something that he’s quite well known for – being so good against spin all around the world.
“I asked him a lot about that and how he played left-arm spin. As I’m left-handed, that would be like me facing an off-spinner and the ball going away.
“He just talked about getting my stance a bit wider and more open so that my eyes are a bit more level. It gives me a chance to sweep if they miss their line, which I thought was really useful.
“With Brooky, I spoke to him about the Ashes last summer when they didn’t bowl a ball in his half for two Tests.
“I asked him how he dealt with the mental side of knowing that they were just going to bowl short at him.
“He also said that he changed his hands and got them a bit higher and sat a bit deeper in the crease.
“I’ve used the spin one, definitely, and as the pitches get a lot better towards the end of the year, I feel like I’ll use Brooky’s advice with his hands and stance.”
Asked what he feels his biggest strengths are, Kelly went on: “My grit and determination as well as my ability to read the game.
“I feel like if you give me a puzzle in a cricket sense – you need this amount of runs in an over with this bowler on, I feel confident in finding a way pretty quickly and adapting a bit quicker.
“That’s why I quite like 50-over cricket because there’s a lot of different phases in the game.
“Especially if you’re chasing, it can become quite intricate.
“I see cricket as a bit of a puzzle and you have to put the pieces together and win that scenario.”
Kelly’s first half of the summer was spent juggling cricket with completing his A-Levels.
He started the summer batting at six in Yorkshire seconds’ Championship team, while he has opened in T20 cricket. In early May, he scored a superb 171 batting at three for the Academy/Under 18s Roses two-day game with Lancashire at Bradford Park Avenue.
“It was early-season, and it gave us all a good chance to get back in rhythm with red ball cricket,” he reflected.
“You’re not often going to get a result in two-day cricket, so it was more about trying to knuckle down for a day and getting some time at the crease, which I was really happy with.”
Kelly says in an ideal world he would bat in the top three against the red ball, though he has enjoyed the challenge of batting in the middle order for Yorkshire’s seconds this year, as he has done opening in the limited overs formats.
Not long ago, the youngster was marrying his cricket with other sports. As recently as January time, he was playing Sunday League football as a centre half: “There was no messing about,” he laughed, when describing his style of play.
“I played rugby as well until I was about 13. But then I started cricket training on a Sunday, so I packed that in.
“Recently, we’ve been training on a Saturday with the Academy, so I could play football. But I stopped in January time because it was getting a bit much.
“That’s when we were really starting to ramp up the cricket stuff ahead of the new season, and I saw the bigger picture.
“But I think it’s been massive for me (playing a different sport as well as cricket)
“I feel like it’s good for fitness as well. The other side of it is that it keeps that competitiveness going during the winter as well as the fitness. It’s something you miss.”
Kelly will get that competitive winter fix over the coming winter as he plans to travel to Australia for the first time to play some grade cricket.
That advice from Brook about playing short-pitched bowling may well come in handy against those bloomin’ Aussies!
Speaking of club cricket, Kelly is a one-club man on home soil, with his NYPL success in 2022 a career highlight which will always be special to him.
“It was the way we won it as well,” he said. “No one expected it.
“We were proper underdogs leading into the season having nearly been relegated the year before.
“But the way we got around each other and won a number of tight games, they were some of the best games I’ve ever been involved in.”
Kelly has captained Driff’ on a couple of occasions already despite his tender age.
“It’s been my only club since I was six,” he continued. “I played the Under 9s when I was six, and I’m still playing.
“I’m really grateful to them. The investment in the juniors, the coaches, my mum (Rita) and dad (Mark) as well. Mum does the teas every now and then.
“It’s a real community club that we all get around, and I’ll always be grateful for Driff. I’d love to keep playing there whenever I can.”
On family, he continued: “My mum and dad have sacrificed a lot.
“Dad takes a lot of time off work during the summer.
“The mileage, the time in the nets – dad used to side-arm when I was younger. I owe a lot to those two. My other family as well, but mainly my mum and dad, who have always been there.”
It was therefore nice that they were able to share with him the moment he was told by Craddock that he was being offered his first pro contract.
“I was playing a T20 night game,” he said. “And after that, Cradds pulled myself, mum and dad for a chat in the changing rooms. I had absolutely no idea what was coming.
“I think mum had a tear in her eye, and dad probably won’t like me saying this, but I think his eyes were watering slightly as well.
“It was a really lovely moment – and I was pretty shocked. I don’t think it had sunk in until a couple of days later. But mum and dad, it hit them straightaway.”
In the signing press release, Craddock described working with Kelly as an “honour and a privilege”.
The feeling is definitely mutual, with Kelly praising him, James Martin – the head of Yorkshire’s performance pathway – and second-team coach Smith for smoothing the path of progression at Headingley.
“I’ve got to know the guys in the senior set-up pretty well – the players and coaches,” he said. “And they’re a great group.
“It’s a really high-performing second-team.
“That’s a massive credit towards the pathway and the second team – how easy it’s been to integrate.
“A number of the Under 18s lads have been pushing for places. If you’ve done well for the 18s, you’ve been rewarded well. It’s something they mentioned at the start of the year, and they’ve stood true with that. I’m very thankful and grateful towards James Martin, Cradds and Tom Smith for that integration.”
And on the prospect of a first-team debut over the next few weeks, Kelly added: “That would be fantastic, but selection is never guaranteed. I have to work really hard to get to that next milestone.”