On the time, ECB chief government Richard Gould stated Yorkshire weren’t being “punished for previous sins” following the prolonged racism scandal on the membership.
Now, the ECB says the choice to substantiate 2026 because the season when Yorkshire will be part of Tier 1 “has been taken to offer higher certainty in regards to the introduction timeline for the membership and the prevailing girls’s skilled taking part in group”.
Nonetheless, various present Diamonds gamers, who’re largely based mostly in and close to Leeds, face not less than a yr of upheaval if they’re signed by different counties.
ECB director of girls’s skilled sport Beth Barrett-Wild stated: “Yorkshire’s want to be a part of Tier 1 as quickly as doable is obvious, and we imagine it is one of the best choice for them, the ladies’s sport, and most significantly for the gamers as they enter a part of contract negotiation, to offer as a lot certainty as we are able to in regards to the introduction timeline for each Yorkshire and Glamorgan.
“We sit up for getting the brand new three-tiered construction underway subsequent summer season, and setting in movement the subsequent thrilling stage of girls’s skilled home cricket.”