Northamptonshire County Cricket Club are excited to announce the launch of a brand new Girls’ Emerging Players Programme.

Our EPP will offer outstanding support and development opportunities for players who have, or could have the potential to play regional cricket, or to play for our new Tier 2 team, Steelbacks Women.

The introduction of our EPP is an important next step in the rapid development of Women’s and Girls’ cricket in Northamptonshire, and we’re confident it will help to:

  • Create players who can transition into regional cricket and Steelbacks Women
  • Support all aspects of player development including technical, physical and wellbeing
  • Provide player access to expert resources that provide support in and outside of cricket
  • Give players a better understanding of themselves, as cricketers and people.

A squad of 12-15 girls will be selected from our existing U13 to U18 county age groups and will be based at The County Ground, with access to its first-class training facilities.

During the winter, players will benefit from extended coaching sessions, strength and conditioning and specialist skills development, focused on strengthening technical, tactical and physical performance and improving overall mental health and wellbeing.

In the summer, the programme will continue to maintain individual player development plans, with regular squad training sessions to fit around a busy county pathway match schedule.

Current Head of Girls’ Pathway and an experienced ECB Level 3 coach Paul Harris will lead the EPP, with the squad benefitting from working with a number of specialist coaches, including representatives from The Blaze coaching team and the expert sports science and medical teams at Northamptonshire.

David Ripley, recently announced as Head Coach of Steelbacks Women, will work closely with Paul on their shared ambition – for Northamptonshire to offer the strongest possible county pathway for talented female cricketers.