Warwickshire welcome Academy class of 2022

Warwickshire welcomed the graduates to their 2021/22 Academy at an induction event at Edgbaston on Sunday.

Ten boys, including four retained from the previous year, make up the new group. Any girls on the Warwickshire pathway and at a similar stage of their development now transition through to the Central Sparks Academy.

Eleven boys and five girls were also inducted into the Emerging Player Programme for the year ahead.

Warwickshire’s position as reigning county champions makes it a very exciting time for young players to be around the club and, most encouragingly of all, home-grown players made a big contribution to the success last season.

Player-of-the-season Rob Yates led the way with big runs in the championship while numerous young players contributed heavily in white-ball cricket and helped the Bears lift the Second XI T20 Cup.

“We are delighted to welcome the ten boys as the new academy intake and the boys and girls into the Emerging Player Programme,” said Warwickshire high performance manager Paul Greetham.

“We believe that all of them, with the right attitude and support in the months and years ahead, have the potential to gain professional contacts at the Bears and Sparks, and carve out good careers in cricket.

Paul Greetham

“It was a fantastic season for the club this year with the club winning the County Championship and Bob Willis Trophy and it was very pleasing to see our home-grown players contributing so much across the formats.

“The ethos at Edgbaston is very much to give young talent every opportunity to grow and flourish. For example, in the Second XI this year we selected Academy players as we felt they were good enough to not hide them down the order for example as batters – they went in up top and showed their quality, or bowled at key moments in games.