Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com. Up and coming seamer Amelia Love has been called up to an England Under 19s training camp.
Rich Pyrah has hailed the endeavour shown by – and the progression of – Amelias Love and Oliver after the Yorkshire young guns were last week called up to an England Under 19s winter training camp.
The teenaged Academy duo both impressed in first-team cricket for the county during the summer and are part of a group of 20 who will train under the guidance of the ECB through the winter with the aim being selection for a March/April tri-series against Australia and Sri Lanka.
Seamer Love took four wickets on debut for the White Rose at the age of 16 back in April, the Metro Bank One-Day Cup defeat against Worcestershire at Headingley. She went on to take 11 wickets in 10 appearances in all cricket in 2025.
Opening batter Oliver, who turns 18 in January, also impressed at senior level. She played 13 times during the summer, scoring 227 runs with a best of 61 in August’s One-Day Cup win over Gloucestershire at Bristol.
Two Academy products at Headingley – Love plays her club cricket at Bolton Percy, Oliver Harrogate – they both helped the White Rose win that One-Day Cup title and have been rewarded with national recognition.
Yorkshire’s women’s head coach Pyrah is thrilled for them.
He said: “They’re two very promising cricketers who are developing nicely.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Opening batter Amelia Oliver is the other Yorkshire representative in that Under 19s winter training camp and hopes for a twi-series tour selection in March and April.
“We said at the beginning, didn’t we – like, this time last year – that there’s going to be some massive positives coming out of us being in Tier 2.
“We were able to give opportunities to our young players.
“We had a small squad, and we were able to take some of them on our pre-season tour to Abu Dhabi. Somebody like Amelia Love really benefited from that early-season.
“The way she developed, not just as a cricketer but as a person as well, was great to see.
“We really like her from a bowling point of view.
“She’s got some great attributes, and she’s performed this year.
“I think it’s important with young seamers that we manage her, and that’s why she didn’t play all of last year.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Women’s head coach Rich Pyrah is delighted for both youngsters.
“She was juggling that with the GCSEs as well. She’s tracking really well, and we’re excited about her from a long-term point of view.
“And then Olly, she missed out on pre-season tour but scored a lot of runs this summer.
“That’s what we’re looking for from our youngsters, especially young top-order batters, the weight of runs to get in. She did that and performed in senior cricket.
“She’s developing well too.
“They’re both hard workers, and they deserve this chance.”
Pyrah went on: “They’re both leaders within our young group as well. Amelia Love is a bit quieter, but she’s got a good cricket brain on her. Young Olly, a lot of the girls look up to her and she’s done quite a bit of age-group captaincy.”
In terms of the logistics of the Under 19s training camps, there are eight separate camps at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough, which lead into the aforementioned tri-series against Australia and Sri Lanka. The squad for that tour will be announced in the New Year.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Amelia Love bowls against the Bears in May’s Vitality County T20 Cup.
“They go down on a Thursday and come back on a Sunday,” explained Pyrah. “I think it’s every two or three weeks, and they’ll cover all sorts.
“It’s getting them used to being away. They’ll stay in a hotel, they’ll cover gym and nutrition, there will be a couple of psychology sessions and obviously cricket.
“It will be a great experience for them. Also, training with the best players in the country at their age-group will be great for their development. It’s a chance to showcase what they can do, and getting on that tour would be massive for them.”
It certainly seems like the pair are setting themselves up ideally to hit the ground running in 2026 and challenge for further first-team honours, which this time will be in Tier 1 as opposed to Tier 2.
“There will still be chances, for sure,” continued Pyrah.
“The difference next year will be that we’ve got a little bit of a bigger squad. It’s still relatively small, but we have got a couple of experienced players in such as Sarah Glenn and Jess Jonassen.
“This summer just gone, we were going to give these youngsters an opportunity without any performances behind them.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com. Amelia Oliver (l) alongside first-team vice captain Maddie Ward, who skippered Yorkshire in this season’s Vitality Blast.
“Now the message is going to be, ‘If you perform, you’ll be close. We want you to put pressure on the older players’. Hopefully that’s what they’ll do.”
Pyrah, his fellow coaches and backroom staff and the players can certainly reflect on a job well done in 2025 as they prepared for their elevation to Tier 1.
They gave chances to a host of youngsters and accelerated their development, they won a trophy and they also challenged strongly for another – beaten in the final of the Vitality Blast by Middlesex.
That defeat was an opportunity to reflect and come back stronger, which they did with the 50-over triumph.
“Everything we set out at the beginning of the season, we pretty much achieved,” said Pyrah. “We gave chances to the youngsters.
“We also wanted to find a way to play – to develop a real strategy of how we go about things, and we did that. It brought us some success.
“We also pushed ourselves with some tough games, played against some Tier 1 teams and showed where we need to be at for next year.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Seamer Jess Woolston is currently in Australia playing club cricket.
“It was a really good, positive year, and we’re ready to move up now and challenge ourselves.
“Everyday we’re coming in with excitement because we’re pushing.
“We’re trying to develop the squad but also the infrastructure moving forward. It’s a great time to be involved in the club and in the girls’ set-up.”
While a number of Pyrah’s players are abroad this winter, be it on international, state or club duty – the majority in Australia – those who are home based have returned to pre-season training at Headingley.
“It’s been good,” said Pyrah. “The girls had a nice little break, and they had some testing last week and had the first physical week this week.
“There’s not many about, to be honest. There’s quite a few away, which is great. But it’s that time of year again, isn’t it. It’ll be back in the East Stand in a couple of weeks and back to the winter grind.”
Pyrah says that Yorkshire won’t see new signing Glenn all winter, with the England all-rounder currently on holiday after the recent 50-over World Cup before a trio of national overseas training camps.
Picture by Matt Roberts/Getty Images. New signing Sarah Glenn will be away from Headingley pretty much all winter.
Pyrah does have the option of sending some more of his players to Australia in the New Year to train at Cricket Victoria’s facilities in Melbourne. Men’s head Anthony McGrath is set to send some of his players.
Jess Woolston is currently Down Under playing for North Geelong and will be training with Victoria’s state squad.
Of the Melbourne training camp, Pyrah added: “We are looking at that. It’s an option. We’ve just got to be careful because we’ve got two players who are coming back from surgery.
“We’re just trying to work out what’s the best thing for us to do at this stage with the girls that are here.”
