Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com. Rich Pyrah speaks to his players during the ongoing Vitality Blast, which has seen Yorkshire win eight group games from eight to head into Finals Day brimming with confidence.
Yorkshire’s women may well go into today’s Tier 2 Vitality Blast Finals Day at Northampton as the favourites – their status as a Tier 1 county to be naturally makes them so. But Rich Pyrah knows all too well that sport isn’t that straightforwards.
Of course, head coach Pyrah and his players can dream.
“Winning a trophy as Yorkshire Women at the start of this new era would be great,” he said. “It would be great for the club.
“They’ve invested a lot of money into this and backed it, so it would be a nice little reward.
“But we’re not guaranteed to go and win it. We’ve got to go there and perform well.”
Yorkshire have qualified for the Wantage Road showpiece as North Group winners, claiming eight wins from eight in the group stage. They are joined by Leicestershire Foxes and, from the South, Middlesex and Glamorgan.
Middlesex face Leicestershire in the morning semi-final, 11am, before Yorkshire tackle Glamorgan at 2.30pm. The winners will face off in a 6.30pm final.
Picture by John Clifton/SWPix.com. Off-spinning all-rounder Ria Fackrell is the Blast’s leading wicket-taker.
“I’ve been to Finals Days a couple of times as a player and as a coach, and they’re great days,” said Pyrah.
“So, for these girls to experience it in the first year, no matter if it’s Tier 1 or Tier 2, it’s a really good thing.
“I quite like that we’re playing the second game. It’s always difficult when you’re playing that first game and you’ve got four hours off and then you’ve got to get yourself back up for that final at night.
“If we win, we can go straight into it and carry the momentum forwards.”
Pyrah was part of the Yorkshire men’s team who were beaten in the 2012 final by Hampshire at Cardiff having beaten Sussex in the morning semi-final.
He recalled: “We played first, had about three-and-a-half-hours off and struggled to get back up for that final, which sounds crazy. But we’d had such a big high of beating Sussex, and we also qualified for the Champions League in South Africa if you remember by winning that semi.”
In 2016, Yorkshire were beaten semi-finalists by Durham at Edgbaston when Pyrah was part of the coaching staff.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Sterre Kalis will play two Finals Days in the weekend. On loan at the Bears, they have also qualified for the Tier 1 equivalent at the Kia Oval on Sunday.
“Mark Wood did us that day. He bowled quick.”
“These are things I’ll be talking to the girls about, past experiences to try and help us on the day.”
Star duo Sterre Kalis and Lauren Winfield-Hill will be available to play.
While Winfield-Hill’s loan spell at Essex has now concluded, Kalis will play two Finals Days in as many days, with the Bears also having qualified for the Tier 1 equivalent at the Kia Oval tomorrow.
Pyrah is also confident that Ria Fackrell and Rachel Slater will be fit and available having missed out on Sunday’s final group game at Worcestershire because of minor injuries sustained at Leicestershire last Friday.
All-rounder Fackrell, with her off-spinners, is the competition’s leading wicket-taker with 15 from seven matches. On-loan Blaze opener Georgie Boyce is Yorkshire’s leading Blast run-scorer with 246 from eight appearances.
“I think everyone’s performed,” said Pyrah, when asked to outline what has pleased him most through the group campaign.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. On-loan opener Georgie Boyce has been excellent at the top of the order for the White Rose in the Vitality Blast.
“It’s not been one standout player all the way through. Everyone’s chipped in, everyone’s performed at certain periods.
“I think we’ve bowled pretty well as a unit, especially the spin department.
“We happen to be spin heavy at the minute, but we’ve dried teams up and have taken wickets. Taking wickets and bowling teams out in T20 cricket is crucial, and we seem to be doing that regularly, which is great.”
While Yorkshire head into Tier 1 for 2026, their semi-final opponents Glamorgan will follow them the summer after next. They finished second in the South Group with five wins from eight games.
Captained by opening batter Lauren Parfitt, Bethan Gammon has been their leading run-scorer with 200 from the eight matches. Off-spinner Gemma Porter is their leading wicket-taker with nine.
Yorkshire are the only team to have reached Finals Day having won all eight games.
Middlesex finished top of the South with seven wickets from eight.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Wicketkeeper-batter Maddie Ward is expected to captain Yorkshire once again, despite Lauren Winfield-Hill’s availability.
Scotland all-rounder Saskia Horley, a former Australia Under 19 and a senior player with New South Wales, has been their standout performer – and as captain.
She has scored 247 and has taken 10 wickets with her off-spin.
Leicestershire, meanwhile, finished second in the North having won four of their eight games. Their 17-point haul was less than half that of Yorkshire’s (38).
The White Rose beat the Foxes at home and away.
Their all-rounder Francesca Sweet is the competition’s leading run-scorer with 258 runs. She makes up the top three alongside Middlesex’s Horley and Yorkshire’s Boyce.
Seamers Emma Thatcher and Ellie Phillips have taken 10 wickets apiece.
They are captained by opening batter Becki Brooker.
