Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Yorkshire women’s head coach Rich Pyrah.
“I’m just looking forward to getting down there and getting going now.”
Saturday, 10.30am, Metro Bank One-Day Cup, Somerset, The Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton, Tier 1 cricket.
This has been a long time coming for everyone at Yorkshire and not just head coach Rich Pyrah.
The White Rose arrive at the top table of women’s county cricket a year later than planned, something which has been well-documented. But now that they’re here, the excitement is significant.
“We sat here this time last year thinking about building towards this, building towards playing in Tier 1,” said Pyrah. “We’re here now, we get the opportunity to do it, and it’s exciting.
“We’ve come a long way in the first 12 months in building an infrastructure, building a squad and improving the players.
“It’s about stepping back now and letting them go play in Tier 1.
“They’ve worked incredibly hard to get to this stage, and I’ve told them just to go and enjoy the experience.”
Picture by Matt Lewis/Getty Images. Yorkshire captain Lauren Winfield-Hill has won two trophies since the start of September with the White Rose and Queensland.
Yorkshire, captained by Lauren Winfield-Hill, arrive in Tier 1 with their tails up, having won the second-tier equivalent of the One-Day Cup by beating Glamorgan in a rainy September final.
They were also beaten finalists in the Vitality Blast, a flawless campaign only punctured right at the death, and made it through to the quarter-finals of the knockout Vitality T20 County Cup.
Pyrah and co start the summer with five One-Day Cup games in April. Their opponents including Blast champions Surrey, last season’s double winners Lancashire and semi-finalists in all competitions in 2025, The Blaze.
On paper, their trip to Somerset and home clash with Durham at Scarborough on April 29 are more straightforward. Those two sides finished sixth and seventh in last year’s Tier 1 50-over competition.
But, we all know cricket isn’t played on paper.
“There are no weak teams in this league,” said Pyrah. “Everyone’s strong.
“A couple of England players will probably be playing as well for Somerset. Add in Dani Gibson and Heather Knight and it makes any team strong.”
Of course, Sunrisers Leeds have just splashed £190,000 on all-rounder Dani Gibson ahead of this summer’s Hundred campaign.
Picture by Harry Trump/Getty Images. Dani Gibson, centre, is flanked by Mollie Robbins (l) and Somerset captain Sophie Luff (r). Gibson has been signed by Sunrisers Leeds for this summer’s Hundred and will work with Rich Pyrah.
Pyrah was part of that decision-making and auction process, and he will be an assistant coach with the Sunrisers this summer.
“I’ll be mentioning that to her when I see her,” laughed Pyrah.
For now, the former men’s all-rounder is fully focused on his own Yorkshire players.
They returned last week from a highly-productive pre-season tour of Potchefstroom in South Africa, where “we got what we needed”, according to the coach. Seventeen-year-old Academy all-rounder Ines Blackwell was one who impressed and is set to be in the squad this weekend.
The downside was that Academy batter Ellie Nightingale suffered an ACL injury which is likely to end her season. It’s unfortunately the same timeframe with Academy fast bowler Amelia Love, who suffered a back stress fracture prior to the tour.
Spin-bowling all-rounder Olivia Thomas, who is nursing a stress reaction injury in her shin, is likely to be sidelined for the first half of the summer.
In better news, Australian overseas star Jess Jonassen is set to make her Yorkshire debut, while fellow spin-bowling all-rounder Sarah Glenn – the England international – is back bowling after a broken finger and is expected to be fit again in the next two to three weeks.
Somerset is the first of back-to-back away games, with Yorkshire travelling to the Kia Oval on Wednesday to face Surrey.
Picture by Matt Roberts/Getty Images. New signing Sarah Glenn is closing in on a return from injury.
“They’re all big games, and one of the main things for us and for the girls is that the majority of games are played at first class grounds,” said Pyrah. “Playing at Taunton, the Oval and Headingley in your first three games is really exciting.”
And asked what would constitute a successful season, Pyrah added: “I just want us to keep progressing as a team.
“From where we started last winter to where we are now, we’ve seen a lot of growth.
“We’ve built an infrastructure, we’ve built staff around it.
“We’ve also given opportunities to younger players who are now going to be playing in Tier 1. For me, it’s to continue to build on what we’ve done.
“Hopefully, by the end of this year we’ve grown again and we’ve improved and you can see that.
“With the squad that we’ve got – and a lot of younger players who’ve never played at this level – we might be inconsistent. There might be some ups and downs, but that’s ok.
“I just want to keep backing them and watch them grow.”
Picture by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images. Australian star Jess Jonassen is set to debut for Yorkshire.
Somerset have signed batting all-rounder Anika Learoyd from Australia as their overseas player to replace Hampshire-bound Amanda-Jade Wellington.
They also have a new head coach in Australian Erin Osborne, who has replaced the outgoing Trevor Griffin. Former England batter Fran Wilson has retired into coaching with West Country neighbours Gloucestershire.
Somerset could field a trio of England players in the aforementioned all-rounder Gibson, ex-national captain Heather Knight and off-spinner Charlie Dean.
Aussie leg-spinner Wellington was their leading wicket-taker in last season’s competition with 19 and captain Sophie Luff their leading run-scorer with 362.
