Next month, Rich Pyrah—one of the sixteen employees that Yorkshire fired during the height of the racism issue that rocked the team—will rejoin the team as the new head coach of the county’s women’s team.
Before being fired, Rich Pyrah was the men’s batting coach. The Cricket Discipline Commission found Pyrah guilty of using “racist and discriminatory language” in reference to whistleblower Azeem Rafiq’s sister last year. He was fined £25,000 and banned from coaching for two weeks.
Previously, he was one of the sixteen employees let go after he signed a letter to the Yorkshire board accusing Rafiq of leading a “one-man mission to bring down the club” after the latter made accusations about an institutionally racist culture in late 2021.
The next year, Rich Pyrah and the club came to an agreement after Yorkshire acknowledged that his dismissal had been “procedurally unfair”.
Yorkshire confirmed the information on Friday in a club statement that omitted any mention of his dismissal. The club’s chairman, Colin Graves, said, “We’re delighted Richard has agreed to become the head coach of our women’s team and we are very pleased to welcome him back to Yorkshire.”
Following an extensive and rigorous selection procedure, Richard distinguished himself from an amazing group of contenders. Richard is the ideal candidate to guide Yorkshire into the club’s next chapter and elevate our women’s professional team to the pinnacle, as has been evident throughout the entire process.
“As a player and coach, Richard has a winning attitude, is a well-established development, and enjoys an outstanding reputation. Richard seems like the ideal choice for the upcoming phase of our fascinating new adventure.”
Along with Derbyshire, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Middlesex, Sussex, and Worcestershire, Yorkshire will participate in Tier 2 of the ECB’s redesigned domestic structure starting in 2019. Following that, in 2026, they will rise to Tier 1 status.
“It’s an incredible honour for me to be given the opportunity to lead Yorkshire’s women’s side and it’s the proudest moment of my career,” Pyrah stated. “This is an exciting time to be involved in women’s cricket, following ECB‘s restructure of the women’s professional game.”
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