National Counties Pair Sign First-Class Contracts

Wales NC wicketkeeper Henry Hurle and Oxfordshire batter Zach Lion-Cachet have signed rookie contracts with Glamorgan and Sussex respectively. 

Hurle, 17, made his debut for Wales in the National T20 double-header against Oxfordshire at Pontarddulais in May before going on to play for England Under-19s. 

He is another product of the successful partnership between Wales and Glamorgan with all of Glamorgan’s homegrown players having gained valuable experience of senior county cricket in the National Counties competitions alongside county Second XI cricket. 

Those players include Will Smale, another wicketkeeper/batter, who has signed his first professional contract with Glamorgan having played National Counties cricket for Wales since 2018. 

Lion-Cachet, 19, becomes the third Oxfordshire player to be contracted by Sussex following fellow batters James Coles and Harrison Ward since a formal pathway system was created between the two counties. 

He made his senior debut for Sussex in a Metro Bank One Day Cup match against Worcestershire in August having become the first Oxfordshire player to score a century in all three formats. He made a blistering T20 hundred against Bedfordshire in May followed by a three-figure score against Herefordshire in the National Counties Trophy and a century in each innings of the Durant Cricket National Counties Championship match against Devon at Exeter. 

Lion-Cachet becomes the tenth Oxfordshire player to be currently contracted by a first-class county joining Ward and Coles at Hove plus Miles Hammond and brothers Ollie and Tom Price, Matt and Jack Taylor and Ben and Luke Charlesworth who are all with Gloucestershire.

Cornwall batter Joe Phillips has signed a two-year contract extension with Gloucestershire having impressed with the county while on a short-term deal this summer. 

Phillips, 19, has played for Cornwall since 2021 and was a member of the side beaten by Staffordshire in the National Counties T20 final in May. 

He has also been a member of Gloucestershire’s academy and made 80 in the first innings of his second first-class match against Worcestershire at the Cheltenham Festival in July and 71 not out in a T20 match against New Zealand at Bristol in August.