Former Northants head coach John Sadler lands new job at Yorkshire

Just two months after being sacked from his role at the County Ground, the 42-year-old has been appointed as the new batting coach at Yorkshire.

It means Dewsbury-born Sadler's career has gone full circle, as he started his playing career as a teenager at Headingley.

He worked his way through the White Rose's academy system before going on to play first-class cricket for Leicestershire and Derbyshire.

Sadler is teaming up with new Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath, and will be the batting coach for the club's men's teams following their promotion back to the top flight of red ball cricket in England in September.

“It’s a huge honour to be returning to Yorkshire as batting coach and I can’t wait to get started," said Sadler, who spent three years as head coach at Wantage Road, and five years at the club in total.

“Having come through the Yorkshire pathways and started my playing career with the White Rose, I know how important cricket is in the county and am excited by the tremendous opportunity ahead of us.

“It’s clear the club have a very talented group of batters, both at a first team level and throughout the pathways, and I’m looking forward to playing my part in developing the group to be competitive across all formats.

“From what I’ve seen, we have a good mix of experience and promising young players who have the potential to compete in division one of the Championship and for white-ball trophies.

“I’m looking forward to playing my part as our preparations for 2025 start in the next few weeks.”

Sadler initially joined Northants as the club's batting coach ahead of the 2020 season, working under head coach David Ripley.

When Ripley stood down at the end of 2021, Sadler was promoted to the top job.

His first season at the helm saw Northants avoid relegation from division one of the County Championship, but they went down in 2023, and then failed to gain promotion last summer, failing to win any of their first 11 first-class matches.

Indeed, the team didn't win a four-day game until after Sadler left.

The Steelbacks did reach the last eight of the Vitality Blast in 2024 for the first time under Sadler, but their 17-run quarter-final defeat to Somerset at the beginning of September proved to be his final game in charge.

Yorkshire's general manager of cricket Gavin Hamilton said: “We are delighted to have secured John’s services as our men’s batting coach, and it’s great to welcome him back to the club.

“Following a very competitive recruitment process, John emerged as the best candidate for the role and we are confident that he can help to develop our batting group across all formats of the game.

"Having enjoyed a successful playing career before moving into coaching, John’s experiences will be of great value to us.

"We’ve seen in 2024 that we have a really strong group of players and, with new men’s head coach Anthony McGrath also starting this week, we are in great shape to take the squad forward in 2025.”