A major new cricket coaching scheme has been launched by Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC) and Pro Coach Cricket Academy in a bid to develop new talent from across the county.

Based at the Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground in Leeds, the coaching initiative will be co-owned by Pro Coach Cricket Academy along with a newly-established charity, the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation (YCF). The partnership will provide a range of grassroots development courses for talented young players, women and girls, special needs and disability groups and black and minority ethic groups, as well as those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Specialist skills master classes will also be organised for children of all ages and standards at 17 different venues across the county in order to ensure that all youngsters are given the opportunity to take up cricket. YCCC chief executive, Stewart Regan, said: "Yorkshire is a vast county with lots of talented cricketers out there and for the first time we are going to take our leading players and coaches into their back gardens.

"Our aim is very simple: we need to take Yorkshire cricket to the community, enabling more youngsters of all ages and abilities the opportunity to play cricket while remaining on the look out for the next generation of players."