Yorkshire moves to three Women’s Premier Leagues from 2026

In a major change to women’s and girls’ cricket in Yorkshire, there will be three affiliated Regional Women’s Premier Leagues from 2026.

This is a significant strategic development in how the game is organised and has quite a bit of detail announced by the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation (YCF).

At present, there is the eight-team Yorkshire Women & Girls Cricket League – Sessay, Saxton, Sheffield Collegiate, Doncaster Town, Yapham, Wrenthorpe, Tickhill and Rockingham Colliery.

In addition, there is the West Yorkshire Women & Girls Cricket League, South Yorkshire Women & Girls Cricket League & women’s competitions that now fall under the umbrella of Yorkshire Premier League North (YPLN) – Premier League, Championship East and Championship North.

The move to three Premier Leagues (North/East, West and South) for the 2026 season has been designed, according to the YCF statement, to “enhance opportunities, reduce barriers to participation, and strengthen the pathway between recreational and elite cricket.”

Grace Pearson, Head of Women & Girls at Yorkshire Cricket Foundation said: “This represents a pivotal moment for women’s and girls’ cricket in Yorkshire. The Regional Premier Leagues reflect our collective ambition to raise standards, reduce participation barriers, and strengthen connections between recreational and elite pathways.”

She added: “This structure has been developed through comprehensive consultation with clubs, volunteers, and players, and we are committed to working alongside YCCC and local leagues to build a sustainable and exciting future for the women’s game.”

This move, unveiled after ‘extensive consultation between the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation (YCF), Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC), club & league representatives and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)’ is clearly collaborative and a remodelling that has been going on behind the scenes for some time.

Raising standards

The stated goals of reduced travel, retaining standards, consistent governance across leagues and aligning these new Premier Leagues with the men’s accredited leagues all make sense. Keeping travel to a minimum might be tricky in say North/East given the sheer size of the region.

As I understand it, this is about ensuring the overall standards and opportunities across women and girls’ cricket rise across Yorkshire rather than any one league being much stronger than the rest.

We are seeing the evolution of clubs though with Sheffield Collegiate a prime example. They’ve only been in the Yorkshire Women & Girls League for two seasons, finishing fourth and now second.

There is no formal ECB Premier League accreditation for women’s league cricket but that might be the natural progression in time. So, these are called Premier Leagues, as defined by the YCF, but also stresses their status and importance in the future of the game.

Stronger links between clubs and county

This move to three Premier Leagues clearly has both the backing of YCF and YCCC but also thought given to how recreational and elite parts of the women’s and girls’ game can work closer together.

A notable decision is that ‘all YCCC Academy and Emerging Player Programme (EPP) players will be affiliated with one of the Regional Premier League clubs and will be expected to represent those clubs when available.’

The intention here is to strengthen women’s teams across the board rather than the dominance of a few clubs such as Sessay Emeralds, Wrenthorpe and Saxton for many years. The even distribution of talent across Regional Premier Leagues will be keenly watched as to how YCCC pathway players are allocated.

It’s important to say at this point that those clubs just mentioned have been at the forefront of women and girls’ cricket for a long time. It is intriguing as to how things will eventually play out given they tend to have strong representation across county squads.

Gavin Hamilton, General Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club said: “The creation of three Regional Premier Leagues represents a critical and exciting advancement for Yorkshire cricket. This initiative will expand participation while elevating playing standards across the county.

Our long-term objective is to establish these Premier Leagues as integral components of Yorkshire’s talent pathway, providing enhanced opportunities for both recreational and academy players within the women’s league structure.”

Where does that leave the Yorkshire Women & Girls Cricket League (YW&GCL)?

As things stand, the YW&GCL won’t be affiliated but can obviously continue as a league – as I’ve been told is the current thinking. I’ve talked to both the YCF and YW&GCL prior to writing this.

They also won’t receive the many benefits outlined above, in addition to which YCCC pathway and Talent ID staff will be attending training and games for the Regional Premier Leagues. There will also be Annual Countywide Finals Day hosted at Headingley.

📸 The photo above is of Sessay Emeralds at The Hundred Finals day at Headingley in 2024. I chose it to make the point that they wouldn’t qualify for future Headingley appearances unless they move leagues.

It leaves the Yorkshire Women & Girls League, their member clubs and players – the top level of women’s club cricket in Yorkshire as it stands – in a state of uncertainty. Will those clubs apply to join the new structure in 2026?

There is mention in the YCF document of a ‘Phased Transition Approach’ with full integration expected by 2028 so there will be overlap as things settle over several years.

Why would this league carry on rather than closing and teams all moving to their respective geographic regions? One concern is about the current quality of women’s league cricket elsewhere and therefore the impact for their own players.

It’s the old argument for fans of what was once the men’s Solly Sports Yorkshire ECB County Premier League who reckon since moving to four Premier Leagues (now five with Huddersfield), the standard has been diluted.

It is no particular surprise that not everyone is on the same page with regards to how women and girls’ cricket in Yorkshire is organised and run. So it ever was with all forms of Yorkshire Cricket!

This new direction does seem to be more joined-up thinking and tying more closely to the county club. Much of the focus is on regionalisation and not all of the regions have the same player strength / depth currently but this is the only the start of a new journey.

Improving standards for all will take time but I’ve certainly seen the leap in the top division of the West Yorkshire Women & Girls League. Teams like Crossflatts, Bradford Park Avenue Ladies, St Chad’s Broomfield and now North Leeds (2025 champions) have noticeably improved.

The number of conceded games still speaks to growing pains between clubs’ ambition and enough squad depth but there is plenty in this new YCF announcement to be excited about.

There are doubtless more conversations to be had and more detail to emerge but the clock is now officially ticking. There will be 6-10 teams in each regional women’s league for next season playing 30-over hardball cricket with club consultations and expressions of interest underway.

2027 will see a move to 40-over cricket and a countywide T20 Cup while by 2028, it is hoped each regional league has 12 teams.

As an exercise in speculation only, if say Wrenthorpe joined the West Yorkshire Women’s Premier League (names will doubtless be decided in future) & Sheffield Collegiate, Doncaster Town, Tickhill & Rockingham Colliery moved to the South Yorkshire Women’s Premier League then clearly the remaining teams will struggle to call themselves a league.

Alternatively, none of those eight clubs may opt to apply for the new structure in which case they’ll continue as before but in a league that is going it alone – and somewhat isolated from the momentum taking shape.

We’ll have more reaction, opinion and interviews in the coming months – and Cricket Yorkshire doesn’t stop (at all!) across the year. Keep checking back to read our weekly articles (that will be online even when it’s dark outside at 4pm.)

You can read our women and girls articles for the latest news, club visits and photography.

Interesting times indeed and this will be a period of players, clubs and leagues wrapping their heads around the detail and how it affects them.

🏏 Read full YCF Women’s Premier Leagues Announcement