The Yorkshire County Cricket Club has made a further commitment to making cricket accessible for all by providing free kit and coaching to the girls pathway squad.
After launching the initiative for the boys pathways last January, the girls will now enjoy the same benefits as Yorkshire aspires to continue the rapid growth of women’s and girls’ cricket in the region.
The Yorkshire pathway system will see the girls and boys have access to free kit, free winter and summer coaching, and a free Yorkshire membership. This also includes access to the Northern Diamonds’ home matches at Headingley. Recruitment is also underway for dedicated high performance coaches who will be aligned to the girls pathway.
In 2021, the boys pathway saw a nearly 40% increase in attendees for regional observations, and an increase of 60% of cricketers selected from a diverse background at County Age Group when compared with 2021. Girls County Age Group nominations have already increased by 60.7% from 2021.
Yorkshire hope that this significant change to the girls pathway will see further alignment with the Northern Diamonds, the regional team which now has ten contracted professionals.
Other opportunities have included Yorkshire’s Imaan Effendi, an all-rounder in the under 18s girls performance squad, who visited the Lahore Qalandars High Performance Centre whilst on a family holiday this winter.
James Martin, The Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s Head of Performance Pathway said: “There have been many learnings from phase one of ensuring that Yorkshire’s pathways are more inclusive and we are delighted to have seen an increase in participants from diverse backgrounds.
“The next phase is to extend this to the girls pathway and create equal opportunities across the board at Yorkshire Cricket. This will now mirror the boys pathway and come under Yorkshire County Cricket Club from the Yorkshire Cricket Board who have done a fantastic job to date.
“We have seen a huge increase in the number of girls nominated for the County Age Group and we hope that this initiative will encourage more to play throughout Yorkshire.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Al-Murad and Krimpterm for their significant contributions and ongoing support for the performance pathways.”
