Yorkshire hand rookie contracts to eight youngsters

Ben Birkhead, George Hill, Dominic Leech, Tom Loten, Josh Sullivan, James Wharton, Matthew Revis and Harry Duke have all agreed deals for next season

Yorkshire have handed rookie contracts to eight players, with 12 further youngsters named in the club’s academy and Emerging Player Programme intake for 2021.

Ben Birkhead, George Hill, Dominic Leech, Tom Loten, Josh Sullivan, James Wharton, Matthew Revis and Harry Duke have all agreed rookie deals for next season. Six of the group have made first team appearances, with only Duke and Sullivan yet to make their bow.

The contracts are designed to bridge the gap between academy and professional cricket, with the players training with the senior squad.

Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon explained: “We’ve got eight rookies going into next season and they’ve all got huge potential. Most of them have already played some first team cricket, so we’re very excited about the prospects we have with these young players.

“It’s probably fair to say that all the lads that have come into the first team haven’t looked out of place. There’s still work to do, absolutely, but they’ve all shown potential when they’ve played and that’s what gives us the optimism going forward. They are clearly not the finished articles, but they’ve shown that they are capable.

“It’s fantastic to have this group of young players who are keen to learn, and keen to have success with Yorkshire.”

^{Sam Wisniewski has signed an academy deal}

Ed Booth, Will Luxton, James Mukherjee, Harry Sullivan, Yash Vagadia and Sam Wisniewski will make up the academy group. Wisniewski, who bowls left-arm wrist-spin, turned out for the first team in the T20 Blast in 2020. England Under-19 wicketkeeper Finlay Bean has left the club after turning down an academy deal.

Harry Allinson, George Booth, Ben Cliff, Dan Ford, Romir Singh and Matthew Weston will all form part of the Emerging Players Programme.

Richard Damms, head coach of Yorkshire’s academy, added: “We always have a lot of talent and the biggest challenge is finding all these young cricketers the opportunity to play Academy cricket, under-18 cricket, second eleven cricket and, as Sam Wisniewski’s found, first team cricket.

“I think that’s been one positive thing this year, all around the country young lads have had the opportunity to play both second and first eleven cricket. Looking ahead to this winter, the EPP lads will be treated exactly the same as the academy. We’re back in on Saturday 14th November.”

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