Yorkshire CCC v Durham for right to operate Northern Diamonds women's cricket team

The two counties have shared ownership of the team for the past four years, and will do so again in the 2024 season which begins next month.

The White Rose county won a franchise bid to operate the Yorkshire Diamonds in the then-Kia Super League back in 2016, but in 2020, all county women’s teams were required to merge with a neighbour when the England and Wales Cricket Board restructured the women’s game into eight regional hubs.

As of 2025, however, the ECB is restructuring the women’s game again, creating a three-tiered approach headed by eight women’s professional ‘Tier 1 Clubs’ – each owned, governed and operated by an individual First-Class County (FCC) or Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Teams in Tiers 2 and 3 will consist of a mix of first-class counties and national counties.

The closing date for applications is Sunday and has in effect thrust Yorkshire and Durham into opposition against one another for the right to continue growing the women’s game through the Diamonds ownership.

Durham made their bid public on Wednesday. Yorkshire will also be submitting a bid. They would have a strong case. The county is one of the biggest names in world cricket, let alone domestic cricket, but it has not rested its bid solely on that position.

Many of the players and coaching staff live in Leeds, and Northern Diamonds predominantly train at Headingley. They have played 13 games at Headingley over the last four years, compared to 10 at Durham’s Riverside Stadium.

There are strong numbers in the women’s pathway that suggest keeping a pipeline of talent flooding into a senior Diamonds team will be crucial, with the contrast of losing that focal point potentially damaging to girls and women’s cricket in Yorkshire. At present there are 160 women and girls’ cricket clubs in Yorkshire, fielding 313 teams between them. 446 girls took part in Yorkshire winter observations, while 2,216 girls participated in national programmes in the county in 2023.

Yorkshire’s club president Jane Powell is a huge advocate of women’s cricket.

She said: “Yorkshire is showing its support of the female game with open entry to observation days for any girl aged 11-18. Not only that but giving free coaching, free uniform and free membership they have already shown their desire to promote and support women and girls in the county. With clear pathways through to the professional game the journey for any talented girl is clear and supported.

"As one of the very few female presidents, I can vouch for a willingness to be a progressive county exemplifying good practice in so many areas.”

The ECB say the current regional model has created 80-plus women’s domestic cricketers on an average annual salary of £25k, paving the way for the women’s professional game to develop further. The governing body will make £1.3m of funding available to each Tier 1 county selected. The winning bids will be announced next month.

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