Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com. Rich Pyrah has been scouting next year’s Tier 1 opposition.
Rich Pyrah has been busy as he prepares for life in Tier 1 with Yorkshire’s women in 2026.
“I’ve probably watched every ball of every women’s game for the last few months,” said the White Rose county’s head coach.
Yorkshire currently sit in Tier 2, but for one season only. Next year, they will become the ninth Tier 1 county alongside the likes of The Blaze. Durham, Lancashire and Surrey.
And the scouting has already started for the ex-men’s all-rounder.
“We’ve got the NVPlay website where we can watch every game, and that’s Academy as well,” he continued.
“I’ve watched a lot of cricket, just to get a feel for it and to get to know more about the players who we will be coming up against. There’s some very good cricketers up there.”
Pyrah has been impressed with what he’s seen in Tier 1, with Yorkshire also having played two counties from the level above in Essex and the Bears last month during their run to the Vitality County T20 Cup quarter-finals.
Yorkshire beat Essex but lost to the Bears.
“It’s a good standard,” he said. “It’s a big step up from Tier 2.
“There’s a lot more depth in the batting, they’re playing on good pitches week in and week out, and you can see that by the scores.
“You’ve got to be really disciplined with the ball. If not, big runs will get scored against you.
“What’s made it an even stronger competition is all the England girls playing during the first month-and-a-half. That’s made a big difference, and it’s the way it should be.”
Yorkshire have so far played 10 competitive matches this season, winning eight of them across both 50-over and T20 cricket.
As aforementioned, they were beaten by the Bears from Tier 1. But the only team who has beaten them in Tier 2 so far was Worcestershire in the opening game of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup competition at Headingley back in mid-April.
On the standard of Tier 2, he added: “It’s been good in parts. You’ve seen a lot of young cricketers playing for these teams who are out on loan from Tier 1 teams.
“There’s some very good youngsters there.
“You probably don’t have the depth that you do in Tier 1. If you put teams under pressure for a period of time, you will get rewards.
“Going into Tier 1, we’re going to have do what we’ve been doing for longer periods to be successful.
“That’s going to be the test for the girls when we go up to that level.”
