This interview with Hoylandswaine Cricket Club is about big-name signings, paying players, junior development and the swirling debate over ambition and fast-tracking success. The club’s secretary Tony Harrison was on good form, answering any and all questions, however blunt I was, sometimes with a dead bat or with a flourish through the covers. We start […]
Interviews
Untangling the spaghetti: Mapping out cricket fixtures
Tom Jenkins shares the incredible annual feat of how cricket fixtures at grassroots need to knit together, creating 2,000+ over his winter. Where do I start trying to describe the winter of 2024-25 that I’ve had. As I write this I’m sunbathing in Gran Canaria. I’m a glutton for punishment when it comes to fixtures. […]
Baildon Cricket Club on a one-club ethos and paying players
The premise for this look at Baildon Cricket Club was their promotion to the Premier Division of the Bradford Premier League. In the world of professional football, promotion to the Premier League comes with a chance to win millions and the need to strengthen your squad accordingly. At the top level of club cricket in […]
Schools cricket: Award-winning Owen on inspiring kids
Named Schools Coach of the Year at the 2024 Chance to Shine Awards, Owen Batchelor has an intriguing background you likely won’t know. We catch up on Zoom; a rare moment of quiet for a teacher who has taken his love of cricket and channelled it into inspiring kids across Scarborough & Ryedale. Owen is […]
Anthony McGrath: Q&As, club cricket 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 […]
Interview: Grace Pearson, Head of Women & Girls for YCB
Grace Pearson is Head of Women & Girls for the Yorkshire Cricket Board and is my guest on the Cricket Yorkshire Podcast for this episode. We discuss her role overseeing the strategic vision, as well as looking back at some of key moments from this year and thinking ahead to 2025. PLAY INTERVIEW (14 MINS) […]
Rachael Mackenzie: Inspiring women and girls in cricket and life
Rachael Mackenzie has an extraordinary story to tell. A thai boxing class at university ultimately led to incredible success in a rise to the top of the women’s world rankings in two weight categories. A switch to boxing was no less impressive as she became England boxing champion and is now a keynote speaker on […]
Grass half full: Keith Boyce on cricket pitches at New Rover
Keith Boyce, Head Groundsman at New Rover Cricket Club since 1999, knows a thing or two about cricket pitches. The former groundsman at Yorkshire County Cricket Club for 30 years (below right) is talking about plotting safe passage across a boggy outfield to get the heavy equipment on: “It’s very restricted getting machinery out to […]
The power of Super 1s disability cricket with Shakil Manir
Shakil Manir smiles back at me over Zoom, while snow carpets the garden and we discuss disability cricket. As the Yorkshire Cricket Board’s Disability Development Manager, Shakil has his finger on the pulse when it comes to current programmes and what’s coming up in 2024. Disability cricket in Yorkshire includes table cricket as well as […]
Sarah Pollard: Inspiring current and future cricket scorers
Chatting to Sarah Pollard on a Zoom call, the story of Yorkshire’s County Scoring Officer is one of a love of maths but also sharing knowledge with others. In both her day job as a secondary school maths teacher and outside of that as a Level 3 cricket scorer (that’s Advanced to you and I), […]