Rich Pyrah has spoken of an exciting long-term project for Yorkshire’s women having taken on the role of the county’s new head coach.

Former Yorkshire’s men’s all-rounder Pyrah, a County Championship winner in 2014 and 2015, returned to the club in September to take on the lead role in the women’s and girls structure.

Whilst being head coach of the senior first team, Pyrah will oversee all aspects, such as player development in the age-groups and Academy.

Senior recruitment for the 2025 season has now been completed, with 12 players signed to professional contracts.

That group is made of full internationals, external recruits and talented up and comers.

The majority of those players – Lauren Winfield-Hill and Sterre Kalis are playing winter cricket in Australia – are already back pre-season training at Headingley, and they are preparing for a season of Tier 2 cricket in 2025.

Then, in 2026, Yorkshire will make the step up to Tier 1.

Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. New Yorkshire women’s coach Rich Pyrah.

“I’m so excited for this,” said Pyrah, who celebrated his 42nd birthday at the start of the month.

“For myself, I see this as one of the best roles in the country.

“Playing for and coaching at Yorkshire is one of the biggest things you can do in cricket, and I’m unbelievably proud.”

This is Pyrah’s second taste of coaching in women’s cricket. In 2016, he led the Yorkshire Diamonds in the first season of the old Kia Super League competition. The likes of legends Winfield-Hill and Katherine Sciver-Brunt were in that team.

It was Pyrah’s first year following retirement as a player and the early stages of a coaching career which has seen him be an assistant coach for Yorkshire men‘s first team and also work in ECB pathway roles during the winter as well as overseas consultancy work in the Big Bash League.

In many ways, his coaching career has come full circle.

He smiles: “Yeah, it has.

Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Rich Pyrah in his days as coach of the Yorkshire Diamonds.

“It was one of the most enjoyable times I’ve had in coaching, being with the Diamonds in 2016. I had some big wins developing players.

“Myself as a coach, I back myself. I have a good record of developing players. This role fits really well with that.

“Back then, it was pretty new and the first year. But you could see the skill on show. Look at them now and the skill has improved significantly.

“Even so, I still believe there is room for even more improvement.

“Who knows where the game could be in five years time.

“I just want to make sure I give the players the best possible chance for development and improvement, and I’ll leave no stone unturned.”

Developing players is at the heart of Yorkshire’s plans at the start of the restructuring of the women’s professional game across England and Wales.

Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Lauren Winfield-Hill is one of Yorkshire’s key signings ahead of 2025.

In the short-term, Yorkshire have to get ready for their introduction into Tier 1 in 2026, when they will join the likes of Lancashire, Surrey and Durham.

Longer-term, the club are without doubt reaching for the sky.

“Our vision as a club is to have the best infrastructure in the country within the next three to five years,” said Pyrah. “That’s not just the professional side of things, it’s in the Academy and age-groups as well.

“We don’t want to be going out signing 10 new players once we get into Tier 1. We want to be developing our own cricketers through our Academy.

“And we don’t just want to develop cricketers for Tier 1, we want to develop world-class players who can go on to perform for England and further afield with all of the opportunities there are available now.

“I’ve spent a lot of time in my first few months getting to know everyone in that area, putting plans in place.

“This is definitely a long-term project.”

Picture by Laura Malkin. Ria Fackrell has signed for Yorkshire from the Central Sparks.

Of course Yorkshire want to win games and trophies in Tier 2 in 2025, though Pyrah insists that will not be their primary focus.

“The aim is to go and win every game possible. Every cricketer wants to do that,” he continued. “But the main aim for us is to develop these girls and get them ready for that first season in Tier 1.”

In terms of the 12 contracted players, they will form the foundations of a squad which will not include an overseas signing in 2025.

Some of them could be unavailable because of international cricket or the Hundred. The anticipation is that Tier 2 50-over cricket will be played at the same time as the Hundred during the second half of the season.

If that senior unavailability does eventuate, youngsters will be blooded.

Still, whatever happens Pyrah is confident in everyone’s ability and would love to bloody a nose or two in an FA Cup knockout style T20 competition which takes its place in the schedule and pits teams from the three different tiers against each other.

“That’s a great competition,” Pyrah said, with a definite sense of excitement. “For us, as a young team, to go and play against the best teams in Tier 1, what a fantastic opportunity.

Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com - 19/06/2024 - Cricket - The Charlotte Edwards Cup - Northern Diamonds v Lancashire Thunder - Seat Unique Riverside, Chester-le-Street, England - Maddie Ward.

Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Maddie Ward has graduated through the old Northern Diamonds Academy to sign her first professional contract with Yorkshire.

“We have plenty of quality in our group, and there’s no reason why we can’t go and shake a few things up and beat a few of the big teams.”

Yorkshire’s band of 12 players are Ami Campbell, Claudie Cooper, Rebecca Duckworth, Ria Fackrell, Grace Hall, Erin Thomas, Maddie Ward, Jess Woolston and the aforementioned quartet of Kalis, Langston, Slater and Winfield-Hill.

The latter quartet were announced first by Yorkshire – the four with senior international experience.

“Those four are real key signings for us,” said Pyrah.

“They’ve been there and done it and are amongst the very best players in the country.

“This project is about developing players, and those four will play a key part in that as senior players.

“I think every single one of our players has an unbelievable opportunity to develop their games and take it to the next stage.

Rich Pyrah and Chris Brice.

Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Rich Pyrah and his new assistant coach Chris Brice chat in the stands during a Northern Diamonds game at Headingley in September.

“They’ve all done well in stages over the last couple of years, but they all have the potential to improve. And that’s the really exciting bit.

“The Northern Diamonds lost in the 50-over semi-final last season, and that’s something we will look at and talk about – can we get somebody standing up in the big games and winning them?

“The ceiling is high for all our players, and it’s our job to develop them and get more out of them in order to make them into consistent Tier 1 cricketers.

“There’s been a lot of planning which has gone into this winter stage, and I can’t wait to really start improving these players.

“The women’s game is growing so fast, and the opportunities which are there over the next two to three years is brilliant.

“For a lot of the girls, this is their first time being professional.

“Yes, they’ve played for a few years, but they’ve had to deal with University, College, some have been working part-time. But now they have a real opportunity to develop their games, develop the physical side of things and live the dream of being a professional cricketer. It’s so exciting.”

Rich Pyrah

Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Rich Pyrah bowls during his playing days with Yorkshire.

Pyrah also hailed the Yorkshire hierarchy’s strong support for the women’s and girls structure at Headingley. Despite being in Tier 2 next season, the club are very much starting this project with a Tier 1 mindset.

“The support they’ve given has been brilliant,” said Pyrah.

“A lot was spoken about the Tier 1 and Tier 2 situation at the time. The way I see it is that this one year in Tier 2 is an opportunity to put things in place and develop what we want to create in the next three to five years.

“The club have supported us with that, not least signing players on full-time contracts in Tier 2.

“There will be a pre-season tour around March time. All things like that will help the development of these girls massively. I can’t thank the club enough, they’ve been brilliant.”

And of the yet-to-be-finalised pre-season tour, Pyrah added: “It’s a new team, a young team, we have new support staff. The pre-season tour is key for me in building an environment and getting to know the girls even more.

“We will challenge ourselves by going away where there are some Tier 1 teams and play some good fixtures. Those fixtures will be a massive part of the development of these girls.”

Rich Pyrah

Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Rich Pyrah bats during his playing days with Yorkshire.

 

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