Picture by William West/Getty Images. Yorkshire’s new signing Jhye Richardson in training during the most recent Ashes series, in which he played one of the Tests.
Yorkshire have added to their WA contingent by signing exciting international quick Jhye Richardson for the first block of the Rothesay County Championship summer.
Richardson, aged 29, was part of the Australia team which wrecked England’s Ashes hopes over the winter, albeit only playing one Test at Melbourne. He claimed two second-innings wickets, including new county colleague Joe Root, amidst a home defeat.
He will bring extra pace and skill to the White Rose county’s side across the early stages of the Division One campaign and will supplement the other red-ball overseas signing Logan van Beek from the Netherlands.
Alongside Sam Whiteman and AJ Tye, both of whom are also coming to Headingley this summer, Richardson has been an integral part of the successful Western Australia and Perth Scorchers hunt for silverware in recent years.
He has played his part in title wins across all formats, be it in the Sheffield Shield, the One-Day Cup or the Big Bash League.
Injuries have limited this speedster’s match action over the years, most notably a chronic shoulder problem. He has only played 29 first-class matches since debuting in 2016, for example.
Picture by Martin Keep/Getty Images. Jhye Richardson celebrates dismissing Joe Root in this winter’s MCG Boxing Day Test.
But in that time, he has taken an impressive 122 wickets at 20.44 with four five or more-wicket hauls, including a best of 8-47.
That came in the first innings of a Shield defeat to New South Wales in November 2018.
He has played his part in three successive Sheffield Shield title triumphs – in 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24.
In the first of those, he claimed 23 wickets in four appearances.
Just over two years after making his senior debut for WA – in a 50-over match in October 2015 – the right-armer was making his international debut for Australia in a February 2017 T20I clash with Sri Lanka at Geelong.
Just a couple of weeks earlier, Richardson – aged 20 at the time – had claimed 3-30 in the Big Bash final for Perth Scorchers against Sydney Sixers at the WACA. Perth won, Richardson claimed the player-of-the-match award.
Picture by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images. Jhye Richardson has been an integral part of the Perth Scorchers’ domination of the Big Bash League. He took three wickets in last month’s final win over Sydney Sixers.
He also claimed three wickets in their success against the same opponents in last month’s BBL final at Optus Stadium in Perth.
His ODI and Test debuts followed at the start of 2018 and 2019 respectively.
He was awarded the Bradman Young Cricketer-of-the-Year at the Allan Border Medal Ceremony in 2018.
Richardson is a bowler with a fast-arm action who has dismissed Virat Kohli in three successive one-day internationals, and his only five-wicket Test haul came against England at Adelaide in December 2021. He is also a very handy lower order batter with four first-class fifties to his name and a best of 71
This will be his first taste of county cricket, though he has played in two Indian Premier League campaigns for Punjab Kings (2021) and Delhi Capitals (2024).