Picture by Matt Roberts/Getty Images. New Yorkshire spin-bowling all-rounder Sarah Glenn is currently with England at the World Cup.
Gavin Hamilton is delighted with the increased quality and depth in Yorkshire’s spin-bowling department, highlighted by the recent signing of England leggie Sarah Glenn.
The White Rose county’s general manager of cricket has hailed the signing of spin-bowling all-r0under Glenn, who is currently in India at the 50-over World Cup, which started earlier this week.
England open their account against South Africa in Guwahati tomorrow, with Glenn giving herself a great chance of being involved by taking a superb 5-32 from seven overs in a warm-up win over Australia at the weekend.
Glenn signed for Yorkshire last month on a two-year contract from The Blaze.
The 26-year-old supplements an already exciting looking spin-bowling department at Headingley, including fellow new signing Jess Jonassen, the Australian left-arm spinner.
Claudie Cooper shone this summer, so too Ria Fackrell. Vice captain Maddie Ward bats, keeps wicket and also bowls spin. And emerging leg-spinning all-rounder Olivia Thomas was another who contributed significantly to the county’s trophy-winning campaign. Then you have someone such as Academy leg-spinner Holly Garton, who also progressed to play senior cricket in 2025.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Gavin Hamilton has been discussing the signing of Sarah Glenn.
Thomas was player-of-the-match in the triumphant Metro Bank One-Day Cup final win over Glamorgan at New Road last month, claiming a superb 3-14 from four overs to limit the Welsh side to a 20-over total of 127-5 which was comfortably chased down.
“We need experience. If you’re going to go into Tier 1, you can never have enough experienced heads,” said Hamilton.
“We’ve got five or six senior players who can work with the younger girls, help develop them, and that gives us the best chance of doing well in the next few years.
“You know my thoughts on spinners in the women’s game. Sarah’s a wonderful signing for us, so is Jess. And we’ve got some very talented spinners at the club already.
“The more spinners the better.
“I think, with that, you dictate the game and dictate the play.”
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Olivia Thomas was player-of-the-match in last month’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup final triumph at Worcester.
Hamilton continued: “This goes across the women’s and men’s game.
“Signings we make are not there to be detrimental to our players, they’re made for improvement.
“Not just on the field, but the experience, the attitude and the work-rate and how they train and play.
“The other girls are going to follow that lead.
“Look at Liv Thomas. She’s just signed a rookie contract. Who better to learn from than an international leg-spinner?
“Those two bowling in tandem is a really exciting prospect.”
Picture by Martin Keep/Getty Images. Jess Jonassen is heading to Yorkshire on a two-year overseas deal.
The signings of Glenn, Jonassen and Scotland fast bowler Hannah Rainey – she spent the latter stages of the summer just gone on loan with Yorkshire – takes the number of contracted professionals up to 15 ahead of 2026, the minimum requirement for Tier 1.
“We’d like to get to 16, but we don’t want to do it just for the sake of it,” added Hamilton.
“We’ve put so much time into the Pathway, we’ve put so much time into the Academy.
“I mentioned similar before the summer about wanting girls to put their hands up. I don’t just want one rookie, I want three next year. All of a sudden, we’ve then got a squad of 18 or 19 with plenty of home-grown players in there.
“We’re up against it to a certain degree with players at Tier 1 teams on two-year contracts.
“We’re not going to just do it for the sake of it. We’re thinking more long-term.”
Picture by Alex Pantling/Getty Images. Sarah Glenn in action for The Blaze during the summer.
Eight teams are involved at the 50-over World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, which started earlier this week and runs through until November 2.
All teams play each other in the group phase ahead of the semi-finals and the final.
Coach Charlotte Edwards and her troops face South Africa, starting at 10.30am tomorrow, and will bid to win the trophy they last held in 2017.
Australia are the defending champions. They are England’s penultimate group stage opponents on Wednesday October 22.
Should Yorkshire’s Glenn play every game at the World Cup, she would make her 100th international appearance in the final. To date, she has taken 112 wickets from 91 appearances since debuting back in December, 2019.
