Yorkshire must wait till 2027 to participate within the England and Wales
Cricket Board’s new ‘Tier 1’ revamp of the ladies’s skilled recreation, after
eight different counties have been chosen to cleared the path.
Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, Surrey and Warwickshire have been chosen as hosts, with the governing physique abolishing the present regional construction in favour of alignment with the first-class counties.
The blow to Yorkshire, for whom this can be a additional setback after a number of turbulent years on and off the sphere, has been mitigated by a promise to convey them into an expanded competitors within the third season.
Glamorgan have been given the identical assurances and each will obtain extra funding to assist construct their pathway.
However there might be no ‘Tier 1’ cricket at Lord’s within the foreseeable future, with MCC declining to place itself ahead and Middlesex amongst these ignored. Sussex have additionally been left on the surface wanting in, regardless of an extended and powerful
dedication to the ladies’s recreation
The ECB has additionally mentioned it desires to develop Tier 1 to 12 groups by 2029 however no choice has been made but as to the place these additional two groups can be primarily based.
First-class counties that weren’t awarded Tier 1 standing and nationwide counties might be invited to be a part of the method to find out groups for Tier 2 and three of the brand new home construction. These groups might be introduced in September forward of launch in 2025.
During the 2025-2028 seasons all three tiers might be ‘closed’, with no promotion or relegation.
The plans might see an 80 per cent improve within the variety of skilled feminine gamers by 2029 and the ECB is committing an additional £3m a 12 months from when Glamorgan and Yorkshire are operational.
It is going to imply a complete of £8m new funding per 12 months is invested into ladies’s home cricket by 2027 – taking annual funding on this space to £19m.
Richard Gould, ECB chief govt officer, mentioned: “By this course of we have seen an enormous urge for food from top notch counties to have a ladies’s skilled workforce, and an actual dedication to rising ladies’s and ladies’ cricket on this nation.
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“I might prefer to congratulate these counties who’ve been profitable of their bids. I am additionally delighted that in gentle of the help we’ve got seen and the energy of the bids we’ve got thought-about, we will speed up our plans, together with new high tier skilled groups at Glamorgan and Yorkshire by 2027 with and an additional two being launched by 2029.
“Extra skilled groups means extra ladies in a position to make a profession out of being a cricketer, extra function fashions to encourage future generations, and extra of the nation having a ladies’s skilled workforce to comply with close by.
“I recognise right now’s announcement will even be disappointing to those that have not been profitable at this stage. However with the brand new three-tier construction we’re introducing, there may be nonetheless an enormous alternative for them to compete within the different tiers so collectively we will all realise the potential of ladies’s home cricket.”
ECB director of ladies’s skilled recreation Beth Barrett-Wild mentioned: “It is clear that the sport is united in desirous to take the ladies’s skilled recreation ahead, and in wanting to supply commercially vibrant groups and competitions that excite followers and showcase the standard of our skilled gamers.
“I am energised about what comes subsequent, for the counties themselves, for the gamers, for followers and for everybody who desires to see ladies’s cricket proceed its accelerated trajectory.”
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