The spring sun beams down benevolently on Leeds and the mood at Headingley is buoyant. After the turbulent years following the fallout from Azeem Rafiq’s revelations, relegation in 2022 and two years of fines, disappearing sponsors, a points deduction and strained relationships between players and management, an uncanny calm seems to have settled over the spikey old ground.
There’s a new coach in town, a new captain, two new fast antipodean bowlers to pound into the Yorkshire turf in Jordan Buckingham and Ben Sears. The club are debt free after Sunrisers Hyderabad took a 100% stake in Northern Superchargers – though an argument over demutualisation is brewing on the horizon. There’s even a new coffee machine in the press box.
The county’s former all-rounder Anthony McGrath, coaxed away from Essex in the off-season to become the head coach, is characteristically jaunty: “A lot has been said and written and everyone has been through a hell of a lot and I saw that from afar. This is almost a fresh start, not just for myself but everyone else.”
McGrath has made an intriguing call as red-ball captain, appointing Jonny Bairstow, still contracted by England – though it seems that ship has sailed. A full-bearded and fit-looking Bairstow speaks of his pride at being given the job – “It’s something as a young boy you dream about” – while chewing urgently at his nails.
“I’ve known Jonny since he was a young boy when I was finishing my career,” says McGrath, “and the one thing that has shone through since I’ve come back is his passion for the game and to play for Yorkshire and to get back into that England team. He likes to prove people wrong, still has that burning desire, hopefully that’s a good marriage.”
Bairstow will lead a talented side who cut their cloth in Division Two. A promising batting lineup, including Finlay Bean, James Wharton and George Hill as well as Bairstow (who also will wear the gloves) and Dawid Malan, turns stellar when Joe Root and Harry Brook return. With the ball, Ben Coad is backed up by the two new overseas signings, a bulked-up Ben Cliff, Jack White from Northants, plus Dom Bess and Dan Moriarty, with the leg-spinner Jafer Chohan in the wings.
McGrath is hopeful that the Yorkshire faithful will get to see leg spin in action: “I’ve been really impressed, if you can get leg spin into your team it is a huge weapon. It’s difficult early season in April when it starts snowing, but hopefully it will happen at some point this summer.”
He has also been in the ear of the Headingley groundsman, Richard Robertson, to ask for wickets that give his pace attack a little more bang for their buck. There have been important changes further down the food chain, too. James Martin is the head of the performance pathway.
“The last three years have been a real journey,” he says. “Structurally, we’re now under Yorkshire CCC rather than the board and we have a multitude of high-performance coaches full time whereas previously there were lots of zero-hours, part‑time staff, which included quite a lot of risk around selection bias.”
The process of young talent getting seen by a Yorkshire coach has also been tweaked. Whereas once players needed to be nominated by a club coach or a league representative, this has been democratised so that anyone can nominate their own child. This has resulted in an 82% increase in the number of boys passing under the club’s eye, which in turn has led to a more diverse group of cricketers progressing through the system.
In 2020, 17% of county age‑group cricketers from under‑13 to under‑16 were from diverse backgrounds. That figure is now 32% and is the same at EPP (emerging players’ programme) level – though it drops down for the current “outstanding” academy cohort.
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Martin is keen to stress that this is not a quota system, just a rise in children who previously would have slipped through the cracks. “Every single person in it should feel like it’s their pathway,” he says, “whether that’s a kid in inner-city Bradford or a kid in rural Ryedale.”
Tom Brown, the managing director and founder of the South Asian Cricket Academy (Saca), speaks well of the setup. “They’ve been receptive of the work we’ve been doing – I have regular chats with Tom Smith [the second XI coach] about opportunities for Saca lads in their side. I hope the new coaches see Jaf [Chohan] as a good example of the benefit of working collaboratively with us.”
The season starts at the Rose Bowl, against the Division One runners-up, Hampshire. McGrath is quietly confident. “The greatest strength of the Essex players was not buying into that underdog tag. They really did believe they could mix it with any team. That kind of mantra – no excuses – is what we’ve got to have. It will be tough coming back up, but we’ve got everything in place. Momentum in sport is a huge thing, getting off to a good start will not only settle people down but give them the belief: ‘I can do this.’”
A crisp new page turns on Friday morning.