New Coaches For the Senior Teams in 2026

1 May 2026   |   By Richard Prime

HEREFORDSHIRE Cricket will have two new coaches to oversee the fortunes of their senior teams in 2026.

Sean Hooper has been appointed as coach of the National Counties side while Ritchie Harley is looking forward to his first season in charge of the women’s League 3 team.

Hooper, who is 59, is an ECB Level 4 coach.

His connection with Herefordshire Cricket goes back to the 1990s when he played for the, then, Minor Counties side under the leadership of Richard Skyrme.

At that time, Hooper was teaching at the Chase High School in Malvern while playing for and coaching Stratford in the Birmingham League.

He spent most of his working career in teaching with eight years as Head of PE at Bodmin College and a further 17 as cricket academy director at Truro College.

He also spent time as CEO of the Cornwall Cricket Board and continues to play for Cornwall over-50s.

Harley, who is 23, succeeds Jane Powell as coach of the Herefordshire Women’s team.

He moved to Worcester from the South-East in 2022 to start an Integrated Masters Degree in Cricket Coaching and Management and has also been involved in coaching boys and girls in the Worcestershire and Herefordshire pathways.

He is a level three coach and plays his club cricket at Ombersley, mostly in the first-team as a seam bowler in the Birmingham League.

“Last year the Herefordshire team were finding their feet but now we’re looking to be far more competitive and to win as often as we can,” he said.

“We’re generally a young side with players from university student age and younger so we’re also supporting their development as players.”

Hooper and Harley will be in charge of their respective sides this weekend when the NCCA team meet Staffordshire in a friendly at Smethwick and the women’s team open their competitive season in Cumbria with two T20 matches at Lindal Moor.