The Twelfth Man 2020

Our chair, James introduced tonight’s women’s cricket repre- sentatives for the Yorkshire Diamonds evening. Jane Hildreth is General Manager of Yorkshire Diamonds; Ken Gresham is women and girls’ County Co-ordinator and Under 11/Under13 Development Coach; and Courtney Hill, our star player all the way from Down Under, who opened the attack for Queensland Fire and Brisbane Heat before moving sports and countries to play rugby league for Leeds Rhinos. Courtney is one of our lead coaches but has played represent- ative cricket in Australia in women’s Big Bash. She was born in Monto, Queensland and she learned to play cricket there and in Rockhampton. In November 2009 she made her debut for Queensland Fire and in 2011 she moved to the Sunshine Coast to pursue a career in professional cricket. Despite numerous injuries Courtney (nicknamed Corker) enjoyed lots of success between 2011 and 2018 at cricket and sprinting, proving her all-round ability. In 2018 she joined her partner in England and took the decision to change sports to Rugby League where, de- spite lack of experience, she was given a contract by Leeds Rhi- nos and was an integral part of the Leeds squad that won the 2018 Challenge Cup and the League Leaders’ Shield in 2018. Hill was named as the Telegraph ‘Woman of Steel’ at the Super League’s end-of-season awards in 2019. Our guests talked about playing, coaching and the Yorkshire season of 2019, along with where the game is at present in women’s cricket and how the popularity is spreading. Jane feels it will be interesting to see where the game will go in 2020 especially with the introduction of The Hundred, the organisa- tion of which Courtney is heavily involved in. The collabora- tion between Yorkshire and Durham for the game is something completely new so it’s a case of wait and see. The question and answer session proved particularly interesting with lots of questions about girls playing at school level in boys teams and similarly at club level, as well as getting the game established in state schools, colleges and universities and lots more to con- clude an excellent evening. An excellent Christmas lunch was enjoyed by all, followed by David Warner’s interview with Paul Farbrace, former England Assistant Coach and now Director of Cricket at Warwickshire CCC. The interview brought about a frank and often amusing response from Paul and we all wish him the very best in his new role. The vote of thanks was provided by our President, Dickie Bird to send us all happily home (especially the recipients of the first-class raffle prizes!) Paul Farbrace (C) with Dickie Bird (L) and David Warner (R) PAUL FARBRACE Christmas Luncheon 8 December 2019 YORKSHIRE DIAMONDS 28 November 2019 Review (L to R) Kevin Gresham , Tom Hudson presenting, Jane Hildreth , Courtney Hill PHILLIP DEFREITAS 18 November 2019 Unfortunately Phillip had to cancel at very short notice due to sudden family illness and quite a number of members turned up at the meeting. However the afternoon wasn’t wasted as an impromptu meeting took place discussing local club cricket with members relating their experiences (many amusing), and discussing the future of the club game.