JOHN SADLER has seen his career come full circle after being appointed as Yorkshire’s new men’s batting coach.

The 42-year-old hails from Dewsbury and came through the Yorkshire pathway as a youngster.

Although he never made a first-class appearance for his home county, he went on to play for Leicestershire and Derbyshire.

Most recently, he was head coach at Division Two Northamptonshire before being released after three years in charge shortly before the end of a disappointing 2024 campaign.

He will now get to work with what he considers to be a “very talented group” of batters at Headingley, helping them prepare for a return to Division One of the County Championship.

“It's a huge honour to be returning to Yorkshire as batting coach and I can't wait to get started,” said Sadler.

"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 that we 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.”

BACK 'HOME': John Sadler, who was released as Northamptonshire head coach in September, has come back to Yorkshire, where he started his playing career, to take over as the club's new men's batting coach. Picture: David Rogers/Getty Images.

Sadler, who made his first-class debut for Leicestershire in 2003 and scored over 5,000 runs in a playing career that spanned 11 years, said the potential for challenging for trophies in all formats of the game was part of the attraction in coming ‘home’ to Headingley.

"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,” he added.

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

Yorkshire CCC’s general manager of cricket, Gavin Hamilton, said the club had embarked on a comprehensive recruitment process to find the right man for the role, with Sadler getting the nod to work with newly-appointed first-team coach, Anthony McGrath.

GUIDING HAND: John Sadler - Yorkshire's newly-appointed batting coach - pictured during his time as Northamptonshire head coach. Picture: David Rogers/Getty Images

“Following a very competitive recruitment process, John emerged as the best candidate for the role,” said Hamilton.

“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 Anthony McGrath also starting this week, we are in great shape to take the squad forward in 2025.”

Yorkshire CCC turn to familiar face to help nurture batting talent ahead of top-flight return