Interview with Yorkshire CCC bowler Ben Coad looking ahead to the 2025 cricket season, with the club now back in County Championship Division One
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00:00Ben, firstly, how pleasing is it to be back in Division 1 at Championship Cricket?
00:18Yeah, it's awesome. It's obviously where Yorkshire deserves to be and should be.
00:26And yeah, it's just great to be back where we belong.
00:28And I think it's credit to the lads, how they performed last year, back in the last year, to be back here.
00:34I was going to say, it was a hard slog last year, wasn't it?
00:35It took a while to sort of get over the line, as it were.
00:38What was behind that sort of success, to your mind?
00:42I think it's the togetherness of the group, to be honest.
00:45I think I've said it in a couple of interviews, it's the best atmosphere I've been a part of.
00:51Just everyone wanting success for each other, which is obviously a great thing.
00:56Like I say, it was a tough start to last year and we were down near the bottom.
01:00So to come back the way we did and win as many games as we did back half, it's credit to all the lads to get us over that line.
01:07At times when it does start like that, and it is a tough first few weeks, a couple of months at the start of the season,
01:13is that when doubts sometimes can creep in or do creep in?
01:18Maybe, I mean, we did have a big focus, like we were really expecting to go up last year at the start of the year.
01:25So when we started like that, it was quite hard to take.
01:28But I think it also gave a bit of freedom just to go out there, because now we were underdogs to go up.
01:34But I think you saw the quality of the lads come through towards the back end and prove what we thought at the start, right?
01:42New three-year deal you signed, presumably you see the potential that is here.
01:47New coaching staff, bit of a sort of change around in terms of the backroom staff, etc.
01:52But you clearly see good times ahead?
01:54Yes, 100%. I think you're seeing, I've said this as well, I think a couple of years in Division Two is actually a bit of a blessing
02:02for the younger lads to get a lot of cricket and to gain some good experience down there.
02:09You can just see how far they've come along in those two years.
02:11And I think they're really ready to thrive in this year.
02:14And yeah, this is the only place I've wanted to play cricket.
02:18It's from where I'm from and I've never wanted to leave.
02:21So when I had that chance to sign three years, one, it's home and two, the chance to win some silverware there.
02:29Like I say, back in Division One, you've played at that level obviously before.
02:33That must be what excites you as well, having the chance to prove yourself against, essentially, what are a slightly better level of player?
02:41Yeah.
02:42Opposition?
02:43Yeah. Like I say, I think this is where the club belongs and it's where you want to compete against the best and prove that you can do it.
02:53Like I say, well, it kind of changed over Covid, but three years before that in Division One.
03:00And yeah, I hopefully can perform the same as I did back then.