The Duke of Yorkshire
Wicketkeeper-batter Harry Duke made an impressive breakthrough into Yorkshire’s first team midway through 2021 and quickly entered the record books following a stunning one-day century at Leicestershire – his standout performance of an embryonic career.
Elevated to open the batting in the Royal London Cup, he hit 125 to anchor a pursuit of 328 in a late July victory at Grace Road.
Aged 19 years and 322 days, Duke became the youngest Yorkshire player to make a List A century since Sachin Tendulkar (19 years, 100 days) when he scored a Roses one-day ton in 1992.
Born in Wakefield, Duke – now 23 – had made his first-team bow in a Championship match at Glamorgan in May that season and held his place until midway through 2022.
A challenging start to his second season saw him drop back down to second-team cricket, where he captained them during their Championship title triumph and scored 546 runs in six matches, including a century.
Duke added another ton for the firsts when opening the batting in the One-Day Cup in August – 111 in victory over Northamptonshire at York. In 2023, he returned to that venue and scored a brilliant unbeaten 93 to seal a thrilling one-wicket win over Surrey in the same competition.
In 2024, Duke spent a short time on loan with Essex during the early stages of the summer to cover for injury, working with his prospective new White Rose coach Anthony McGrath in the process.
He was a regular for Yorkshire during the Metro Bank One-Day Cup, but not in the other two competitions. In fact, his only Championship exposure last summer was a couple of Essex appearances.
However, it was still a progressive year. He was selected to play for a First-Class Counties Select XI against the touring West Indies Test team in July and finished the campaign as the leading run-scorer in the whole of the Second XI Championship with 826.
That included a superb season-ending 255 in a high-scoring defeat against Middlesex.
The former England Under 19s gloveman, who has worked with former England wicketkeeper Chris Read in addition to his work with Yorkshire’s coaches, is a busy, energetic cricketer – both behind the stumps and with bat in hand.
He first represented Yorkshire at Under 14s level and came through the Academy.
He graduated with a Business Management degree from Leeds University in 2024, signed a contract extension to keep him at Headingley until the end of 2026 and warmed up for the forthcoming summer with a winter of grade cricket with Melbourne club Essendon.
UPDATED: Feb 2025.
