It was a proud night as Thongsbridge Cricket Club played host to the launch of new kits for Yorkshire County Cricket Club. And judging by our pictures, the kids had a great time!
The new Yorkshire Vikings’ T20 Kukri kit features the names of more than 600 clubs across the county in the design – and the Northern Diamonds women’s T20 kit incorporates all the clubs with a women or girls’ section across their patch of Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland.
A video celebrating local league cricket was shown at the launch. It featured Yorkshire players Dawid Malan, Jordan Thompson and Jonny Tattersall alongside Diamonds’ players Sterre Kalis, Bess Heath and Rachel Slater.
Footage was captured from around 15 local league clubs including Thongsbridge. The video included an original poem by Bradford poet and educator Kirsty Taylor.
Dozens of supporters attended the launch event and there was a Q&A with Yorkshire’s Australian star Mickey Edwards. Mickey also posed for pictures with Lily Newman, aged 12, who is one of Yorkshire cricket’s rising stars.
Mickey Edwards and Lily Newman model the new shirts. Images by: SEAN DOYLE
The event was a great showcase for Thongsbridge and the Huddersfield Cricket League more generally. There were smiles and laughter everywhere as young players showed off their skills. There were training demonstrations by the women’s and girls’ teams and the Little Lions, the under-9s, the under-11s and the under-13s.
Scroll through our gallery of images by Huddersfield Hub photographer SEAN DOYLE
The women’s game continues to go from strength to strength in Yorkshire with rising numbers of supporters attending games and the standard of cricket improving exponentially.
2022 was a year of fantastic progress for the Northern Diamonds with the highlight winning the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at Lord’s after coming so close to silverware in previous seasons, reaching three finals in 2020 and 2021.
Away from the professional arena, Yorkshire is the hotbed of cricket in the UK with over 850 grassroots clubs and schools playing the game every week in the summer, equating to more than 125,000 recreational players.
