Anthony McGrath on why club cricket matters and digital scouting

Anthony McGrath, Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s new Men’s Head Coach, is discussing the fact that he’s only just arrived but is already going on tour.

It was announced in October that the former Essex Director of Cricket had signed a five-year contract with Yorkshire. His pedigree speaks for itself with the Double of the County Championship and T20 Blast in 2019, as well as the Bob Willis Cup in 2020 on the CV.

If there’s ever a quieter time in this headline role, January might be it with Yorkshire’s squad still scattered between overseas assignments, international commitments and training schedules at Headingley.

I catch the quietly-spoken Bradfordian (I don’t call him ‘Mags’ because I’m old-fashioned) to talk club cricket.

An Evening with Mags is a series of events hosted by BBC Radio Leeds commentator Jonathan Doidge with McGrath set to visit Sowerby Bridge CC (7 Feb), Harden CC (28 Feb) & Kirkburton CC (7 March) for a Q&A.

Jonathan runs JDZ Events and alongside the McGrath roadshow, he’s also doing club Q&As with David Lloyd, aka ‘Bumble’ as part of the Start the Car Tour. He also ventures into other sports and with Cheltenham Festival Preview evenings and Royal Ascot Ladies Day events, staged in Leeds, to come this year.

Jonathan told me: “I’ve known Mags a long time. Our families have always got on well and when he was announced as the head coach at Yorkshire, it seemed natural to take him on the road and hear some stories about his career and those he played with, as well as delving a bit deeper into his plans for 2025.”

I imagine any incoming coach arriving at Headingley has a busy in-tray to get through but for McGrath, he is looking forward to getting out and about: “I’ve grown up with club cricket in this area. As you know, cricket in Yorkshire is very passionate and a lot of the players come through the leagues. It’ll be nice to reconnect with a few of the clubs.”

Bradford League background

With McGrath, there is his own grounding in league cricket having played for Bankfoot & East Bierley in the Bradford League.

In 1992 at just 16-years-old, he lifted the Gordon Bowers Young Cricketer of the Year Award and would do so for the next two years too. Yorkshire age-groups, the White Rose first-team, many thousands of first-class runs and four Tests and 14 ODIs followed for England.

McGrath said: “I’ve still got friends playing at various clubs throughout the county so I’m always interested. I know there’s been a lot of changes to the leagues and format but it’s still thriving.”

We get to talking about the impact of volunteers at clubs – an early engagement after his move back to Yorkshire was to attend the YCB Cricket Collective Awards in November.

“It amazes me how brilliant the clubs are because without the volunteers, they wouldn’t survive and there’s plenty of them throughout the county who put the time in selflessly and make the club what it is.”

He added: “The stories are just incredible what people do. We’ve got to put as much of a spotlight as we can on cricket. Of course, the professional level but without the grassroots stuff and the clubs, the top end doesn’t exist.”

His first Q&A will be at Sowerby Bridge CC of the Halifax Cricket League; themselves no stranger to regular flooding as we’ve reported here on Cricket Yorkshire.

Steve Jordan, Chair of Sowerby Bridge Cricket Club said: “We can’t wait to host this event at the club. It’s a great chance to meet and listen to Yorkshire CCC’s Head Coach and hear what he has to say about the forthcoming season and cricket in general. A way to blow away the winter blues and get in the mood for the season ahead.”

I am reliably informed that there are some tickets remaining but contact the host clubs for the latest. It looks like they’re doing food and there’s likely to be prizes to win and a fundraising element.

We finish up with a thought on pathways into professional cricket. Yorkshire’s clubs have always been the bedrock of local talent but that’s usually identified very early through Yorkshire age-groups, the Academy and then 2nd XI.

We’ve seen the success of other routes such as the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA) whose graduates with professional county contracts include Jafer Chohan. The legspinner earnt an initial one-year rookie contract with Yorkshire after impressing in a net session with Joe Root.

In 2024, Chohan bagged 17 Vitality Blast wickets, was picked by the England Lions and is playing in the Big Bash League (BBL) for Sydney Sixers.

All of which is a long preamble to noting that you need to take your opportunities – but you also need to get them in the first place one way or another.

I’m curious how Anthony sees the grassroots game in terms of its untapped potential – and how Yorkshire County Cricket Club makes the most of it?

“From when I started here (at Yorkshire), the leagues were thriving. If you played well in the leagues, you got into second-team cricket and Academy and someone would shine through at a later age and get picked.”

He emphasised: “We’ve got to continue that. I know that there’s a great appetite within the Club to keep that going on the men’s and the women’s side. We’re going to try and get the pathways, Academy and club stuff as good as it can be.”

Talent scouting

Talent scouting in Yorkshire is not without its logistical challenges due to the sheer size of the region but McGrath told me that digital scouting was something that they set up in Essex and could look to replicate here.

With the growth of live streaming by clubs, there is the available data to complement keeping an eye on performances in person:

“If we can get that up and running and really keep a check on the local leagues throughout Yorkshire. We can hopefully cast the net as wide as we can and unearth players who develop at a different stage to the stereotypical kind of pathway and Academy group.”

My reading of that was firstly to applaud an open approach while inevitably most players will already be known to the county in some shape or form.

Before you get too excited, McGrath didn’t mean there will be a scout at every league game this summer!

But, was there any room for a forty-something, left-arm seamer with a knackered elbow and asthma?

Apparently, no-one is ruled out – so I’m off to search for some WD40 and an inhaler.

***

On the road

If you’d like to hear from Yorkshire’s Men’s Head Coach then these club events coming up are an ideal way to do that before the 2025 season begins.

You’d also be supporting grassroots cricket at the host clubs so get in touch with them for ticket info.

Thanks to Anthony for his perspective and I wish him and the squad all the best for the 2025 season. I’ve no doubt these events will sell like hotcakes (or parkin?) with more in the pipeline for autumn.