Background

Ahead of the 2024 summer, the ECB announced that women’s domestic cricket would be restructured for the 2025 season, calling it the Project Darwin. The regional sides would be brought into line with the men’s counties, and each county was invited to bid for eight professional ‘Tier One’ teams. These teams would compete in the Charlotte Edwards Cup and Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy, with Tier Two and Three teams beneath them. Tier Two and Three teams would be a mix of semi-professional and amateur status.

16 out of the 18 first-class counties submitted bids for Tier One sides, and pitched their plans to an elite panel in April, with each successful county supposed to receive an investment from the ECB of £1.3 million per year until at least 2029 to fund their Tier One side. Following the pitch process, the ECB announced that successful counties who would host Tier One teams from 2025 onwards were: Hampshire, Surrey, Essex, Somerset, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, Lancashire and Durham.

It was also announced that Yorkshire and Glamorgan would host Tier One sides from 2027 onwards.

Yorkshire reaction

Both Yorkshire and Kent (also unsuccessful in their bid for a Tier One side from 2025) released statements expressing their disappointment. A statement from Yorkshire CCC released at the time read: “We believe we hit all of the criteria set out as part of the tender, so we will be taking time to investigate and understand the detail behind the decision, assessing the best next steps for the club and most importantly ensuring we support the players and staff that are impacted.”

In the following weeks, reports emerged that Yorkshire had written a letter to the ECB, asking for clarification on why their bid was unsuccessful and exploring the possibility of funding their own Tier One side from 2025. However, earlier this week, a letter from Yorkshire Chair Colin Graves was published, which stated that the club was “fighting for survival” and in “a very strained financial position”, throwing doubt on their ability to fund a Tier One side themselves from 2025.

Soon after the publication of that letter (May 21), however, the ECB released a statement announcing that Yorkshire would become a Tier One side from 2026, provided they meet a number of conditions. This is a year earlier than initially announced, and would mean they would only be out of Tier One competition for one season.

“The decision to confirm 2026 as the preferred season in which Yorkshire will participate in Tier One has been taken to provide greater certainty about the introduction timeline for the Club and the existing women’s professional playing group, as they enter contract negotiations for 2025 from 1 June,” read the ECB statement. “Yorkshire’s funding for 2026 will increase to £1.5m per year, and their introduction to Tier 1 is contingent on adhering to various conditions, concentrating on governance, strategy and finance.”

No further details have been released on what the conditions Yorkshire have to meet in order to reach Tier One status in 2026.

🗣️ “It’s a weird feeling thinking that, essentially, the team that you’re part of now is not going to exist in a year’s time.”

Lauren Winfield-Hill on the domestic restructure, Yorkshire missing out and how it’s impacted players at the Northern Diamonds 🔷

🤝 @Metro_Bank pic.twitter.com/LpWWoR7L6L

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) May 16, 2024

What this means for Project Darwin?

When the initial eight Tier One sides were announced, only one county in each existing region was granted a team from 2025. For the current Northern Diamonds regions, that county was Durham. With Yorkshire now joining from 2026, that means two professional sides in the current Northern Diamonds regions will exist from then onwards. That will require a rapid expansion in the player pool ahead of the 2026 season in a short period of time.

For Durham, who will have been hoping to add a significant number of Northern Diamonds players to their books in 2025, those numbers could be less than expected. If Northern Diamonds players based near Headingley don’t want to relocate closer to Durham, they will only have to wait for one season outside of Tier One cricket before Yorkshire has a fully professional side again.

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The integrity of the bidding process for Tier One sides has also come under scrutiny. With the ECB seemingly willing to change it’s initially laid out process to grant Yorkshire a Tier One side sooner, other counties could potentially question whether they too could accelerate their ascension to Tier One status. Kent have not yet been promised a Tier One side at any stage of the next five years, and will currently have to wait until at least 2029 for a fully professional side. At the time of the initial announcement, Kent chair Simon Phillips said that decision was a “bitter pill to swallow”. Equally, Glamorgan, who are slated for a Tier One side form 2027, could question why Yorkshire have been promoted ahead of them. Whether replicating Yorkshire’s accelerated development is an option open to other counties has not been clarified.

What this means for the players?

While Northern Diamonds currently cover the Yorkshire and North East region, playing some of their home games at Durham, they are primarily based at Headingley. For players facing the dilemma of whether to relocate to Durham (or elsewhere) or wait for Yorkshire to gain Tier One status, the announcement that Yorkshire will only be without a Tier One side for one year could affect their decision.

Speaking on the Wisden Women’s Cricket Weekly podcast, Lauren Winfield-Hill, who has played for Northern Diamonds over the entirety of the regional era, said: “It’s still slightly challenging from a club point of view and a playing point of view in terms of what that year looks like, playing Tier Two cricket… As a player you’ve still got that, do you leave, do you stay, what do you do if you want to stay long term? Do you relocate? 

“Is there more chance of holding onto more players with it being one year not two? I would guess so. Just because the length of time is shorter. But I would say I think you’ll still lose players because people will relocate and want to play Tier One with immediate effect. But you’ve got more chance of keeping a few more who would have slipped through the net if it had been two years.”

While the addition of Yorkshire from 2026 has significantly altered the trajectory of Project Darwin from the initially laid out process, the expansion and aims remain the same: to accelerate performance levels within women’s cricket and to further grow the depth and reach of the women’s professional game.