Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com. Rich Pyrah has been looking ahead to next summer’s T20 World Cup, for which Headingley will be a host venue.
Yorkshire coach Rich Pyrah says the county can look forward to a “really exciting week or two” next June after Headingley was awarded five matches across four days in the Women’s T20 World Cup.
The allocation of matches for the latest edition of a tournament won by New Zealand late last year will come to England, with Headingley one of seven host venues.
The tournament will be played between June 12 and July 5.
Headingley’s handful of matches will be played across four dates; June 17, 18, 20 and 23.
On Wednesday June 17, powerhouses Australia and India will be involved in a double-header day as they host to be decided qualifying nations.
The West Indies face a qualifier the following day, while do likewise under lights on Saturday June 20.
On the evening of Tuesday June 23, Australia return to God’s Own County to face Pakistan.
Yorkshire duo Sterre Kalis and Rachel Slater, of the Netherlands and Scotland, are both hoping their respective nations qualify.
Picture by Philip Brown/Getty Images. Nat Sciver-Brunt and England are coming to Headingley next summer.
“It’s great for us as a club,” said Pyrah.
“Our girls played in front of a good crowd the other week when had a double header T20 at Headingley, and they absolutely loved it. To have some games, and some good games as well, is brilliant. I’m sure they will be well supported.
“The support that the whole women’s game is getting, and not just at Yorkshire, is fantastic to see. The game’s growing so fast. It’s grown since the start of this season.”
Having many of the world’s best players coming to Headingley across the space of a week will hopefully play a major part in inspiring the next generation of Yorkshire and England cricketers.
But Pyrah also believes it will aid the development of the county’s current stars.
“You’re seeing young girls coming to our games and looking up to the Sterre Kalis’s and the Lauren Winfield-Hills. That’s great to see, and it’s only going to get bigger and better with something like this coming up,” he added.
“It will also be a good education for our girls to get around those big games and watch the top standard of women’s cricket.
“It will be a really exciting week or two.”
