YORK Cricket Club have forged even closer links with Headingley after signing county bowling starlet Ben Coad for the 2014 season.

The 19-year-old joins fellow Yorkshire youngster Jack Leaning at Shipton Road as the Tykes turn to the Clifton Park club to help to develop yet another homegrown star.

Leaning was a huge success in the Solly Sports Yorkshire ECB County Premier League and his exploits with the bat, as York grabbed a seventh successive league title, saw him make his first team breakthrough for Yorkshire towards the end of the county campaign.

Coad, a fixture with the Yorkshire Academy and a former York & District Senior League player for Studley Royal, made his first team debut when impressing in a CB40 match against Gloucester in June.

He featured in several other matches, the last of which was against Glamorgan at Headingley in August, and was also frequently seen in the second team.

For York, who have also announced that Leaning will be on the books next year, secretary Nick Kay said they were delighted to have been entrusted with another talented county prospect.

“It is our ambition to work closely with the county club,” he said. “It’s very pleasing that these lads are seeing York as a place to develop as cricketers.

“We have seen Jack Leaning come on with his batting last year – he scored a lot of Yorkshire League runs – and we have been looking at Ben for the last two years.

“He has been the best bowler we have faced and his spells against us this year were exceptional. Ben has clearly got a huge amount of potential and Yorkshire realise that as well. We hope we can allow him to develop as a cricketer.

“He won’t be with us much at training but, on a Saturday, we will give him the new ball and, hopefully, he will be our prime bowler.

“We are incredibly grateful to Ian Dews at Yorkshire, as far as Ben is concerned, who told him that York would be a good club for him.

“We try to make sure we offer these players the right environment. We try to run the club with a professional ethos and we hope we can send these lads back as better cricketers.”

On Leaning’s return, Kay added: “He has committed to playing for York when he is available next year. There’s very little first class cricket on a Saturday next year – the County Championship is Tuesday through Friday and the T20s are on Friday nights – so, hopefully, he and Ben will be available a lot.

“It’s great to have these lads – match-winners who we hope will lead our club to another title and success on a national level.”