Yorkshire discover opening tie as fixture list announced

They will begin next year’s pursuit of silverware at home to Leicestershire in the LV= Insurance County Championship, while the Northern Diamonds begin their summer by hosting a blockbuster clash with arch-rivals Thunder in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.

The Foxes, as they did earlier this year, will travel to Headingley for the season opener, this one beginning on Friday 5 April.

The Diamonds, meanwhile, head to Durham’s Seat Unique Riverside to kick off their bid to win back the 50-over RHF Trophy they won in 2022. Thunder are the visitors on Saturday 20 April.

The opening seven rounds of the County Championship are to be played from Friday-Monday on successive weeks before the start of the Vitality Blast at the end of May. Each county has a week off for rest and recovery during the first five rounds of the season.

During the first half of the four-day campaign, Yorkshire travel to Lord’s to face Middlesex, starting on Friday 19 April.

Other Division Two fixtures of note are the pair of trips to Scarborough. Yorkshire welcome Gloucestershire to the seaside town, starting Sunday 23 June, before returning to Scarbados to play Sussex on Thursday 22 August.

The two eagerly-awaited Roses Vitality Blast fixtures will be played at Headingley on Thursday 20 June and at Emirates Old Trafford on Friday 12 July.

Ottis Gibson will be eager for victories on derby day (Image: PA)

After the opening block of Championship fixtures, Yorkshire Vikings will begin their Blast campaign with three games in an exciting four-day period, including taking part in the ECB’s extended Vitality Blast Off.

The Vikings face Worcestershire Rapids at Headingley on Thursday 30 May before travelling to the Uptonsteel County Ground, Grace Road to tackle Leicestershire Foxes 24 hours later.

Then, on Sunday 2 June, they travel down the M1 alongside the Northern Diamonds for a Blast Off double header at Wantage Road. Yorkshire face the Northamptonshire Steelbacks and the Diamonds face Sunrisers in the extended Charlotte Edwards Cup, which has increased from seven to 10 group fixtures alongside a Finals Day for which four teams will qualify instead of three.

The Diamonds will have started their CE Cup campaign by then, facing Thunder at Emirates Old Trafford in their opener on Sunday 19 May.

There will be two T20 double headers at Headingley.

The first is on Sunday 9 June, as Diamonds take on The Blaze before Yorkshire host Derbyshire Falcons. The next takes place a week later - Sunday 16 - when Diamonds host Western Storm before the Vikings take on Leicestershire Foxes.

The Vitality Blast North Group concludes with a home match against Nottinghamshire Outlaws at Headingley on Friday 19 July. Quarter-Finals will be held on 3-6 September, before Finals Day takes place at Edgbaston on Saturday 14 September.

The Charlotte Edwards Cup concludes for the Diamonds against Thunder at Durham on Wednesday 19 June. Finals Day takes place on Saturday 22 June at Derby’s Incora County Ground.

Yorkshire will begin the group stage of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup by travelling to the Kia Oval to take on Surrey Cricket on Thursday 25 July, before travelling to Sookholme (Welbeck Colliery CC) to face Notts Outlaws three days later.

Four home One-Day Cup matches will be played at outgrounds, starting on Wed 31 July when York’s Clifton Park hosts Sussex Sharks before Gloucestershire visit two days later.

The Vikings will then host Essex at Scarborough on Tuesday 6 August, before taking on Leicestershire Foxes at the same venue two days later.

The final group match will see Yorkshire travel to Sophia Gardens to take on Glamorgan on Wednesday 14 August, with the knockout stages set to begin with Quarter-Finals on Friday 16 August before Semi-Finals on Sunday 18 August and the Final at Trent Bridge on Sunday 22 September.

Yorkshire conclude their County Championship campaign against Northamptonshire at Headingley, beginning on Thursday 26 September.

The Diamonds, meanwhile, face away trips to a trio of outgrounds during the second half of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy; facing Western Storm at Cheltenham College on Sunday 7 July, The Blaze at Lindum the following Sunday and Thunder at Southport on Saturday 31 August.

They conclude their RHFT group stage against South-East Stars at Durham on Saturday 7 September before the Semi-Final Eliminator and the Final take place the following two Saturdays. The Final is at Leicestershire’s Uptonsteel County Ground.

In the Championship, Yorkshire’s 14-match campaign will see them bid for a top two finish in Division Two for promotion.

In the Blast - again 14 matches in the group stage - the Vikings must finish in the top four places in the North Group for Quarter-Final qualification.

And in the One-Day Cup, which consists of eight group fixtures, coach Ottis Gibson and co will need to finish in the top three places in their group for knockout qualification.

For the Diamonds, there are 14 group matches in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and now 10 in the Charlotte Edwards Cup.

In terms of the former, coach Dani Hazell and her troops require a top three finish for knockout cricket.

In the latter, the top four teams will battle it out in two Semi-Finals before a Final at Finals Day.

Yorkshire Head Coach Ottis Gibson said: "We want success in four-day cricket.

"We want to get ourselves back in the first division. That’s where most of the attention is in county cricket.

"Then, in white ball cricket, especially in the Blast, we want to put forward a better showing than we did this year."

Yorkshire’s season opener against Leicestershire is a repeat of the first game of 2023, which the visitors won by chasing down a final day target of 389 in early April.

Gibson, however, is confident things will be different in 2024.

He added: "A lot has happened since then, and we’ve progressed nicely (as a squad).

"It’s a good opportunity for us, against a good team, to get our season up and running."

Dani Hazell, Head Coach for the Diamonds, said: "Fixture release day is always something to look forward to.Now marks the next step on the journey to the 2024 season and we can really begin to bring a closer focus for players already working hard this winter.

"We want to build on last season. We know we’ve got a great mix of youth and experience in the squad at the moment and it’s about looking at how we can improve and push on for trophies.

"We’re really looking forward to next season and it’s really important for us to get off to a good start in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and Charlotte Edwards Cup what a couple of opening first clashes against Thunder (RHFT).

"We’re really looking forward to playing at our host venues at Headingley and Seat Unique Riverside and outgrounds which we will use next year – we look forward to taking the game into our local regions."

To view the full fixture list, click the link: https://yorkshireccc.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/A4-Fixture-List-2024.pdf