Durham Cricket are delighted to announce the appointment of Will Gidman, in the newly created Academy and Pathway Performance Director role and will oversee the club’s male and female talent pathways.
Gidman takes on the role of Academy and Pathway Performance Director progressing from his position as Men’s Lead Batting Coach for Durham Cricket.
The former Durham all-rounder replaces John Windows and will now oversee both the men’s and women’s talent pathway and will be joining Rachel Hopkins, Female Academy & Pathway Director in supporting our excellent coaching teams.
An experienced coach with international, franchise, domestic and pathway experience, Gidman has held a range of coaching roles since starting out as Kent Second XI Assistant Coach in 2018 progressing into his current role within the men’s professional set up.
As well as working within the international high-performance environment, assisting with both England Men and England Women over a number of years, in 2025 Gidman also won the Hundred as an Assistant Coach with the Northern Superchargers Women’s team.
An all-rounder with experience at a number of counties including Gloucestershire, Kent, Nottinghamshire and Durham, Gidman scored almost 4000 first-class runs and claimed over 200 first-class wickets in a playing career spanning over 11 years
On his appointment as Academy & Pathway Performance Director Gidman said: “Firstly, I am delighted to have been appointed Academy & Pathway Performance Director for the men’s and women’s Academy and Talent Pathway at Durham Cricket – a club which means so much to me and one I have got to know very well over the past few years.
“I have a huge passion for developing cricketers, and a major part of this role is going to be working with my team to not only try and support players but to help provide them with the right tools in their quest to be professional cricketers.
“An appealing part of this new role for me is the diverse nature of the job – putting all my previous coaching experiences to date into one opportunity.
“My experience of working across Durham Men, England Men, England Women, Women’s Hundred and the Durham pathway will hopefully enable me to share a wealth of knowledge with the next generation of professional cricketers.
“The club network in Durham is one of the best in the country and I value the work clubs do in supporting the pathway in producing the best talent to progress through the age groups within our pathway.
“We have a great group of coaches across the pathway, and they’ll play a big part in shaping our approach as we look to produce as many professional cricketers to play for Durham.
“If we can do that, then we’ll be producing cricketers that can not only win games and trophies for Durham but also perform and represent England.
“Finally, I want to mention that it is an unbelievable honour to take over the reins from John Windows, someone who has done an outstanding job in producing so many cricketers who have gone onto represent Durham and England – I look forward to building on the amazing work which John has done and look forward to getting started”
Marcus North, Director of Cricket added: “We’re delighted to appoint Will as our new Academy & Pathway Performance Director.
“His experiences across the professional and domestic pathways within multiple environments makes him an outstanding fit for this role.
“Will knows our environment, our people and the standards we want to set. He brings a clear vision for how we can continue developing high-quality players for both Durham and England.
“With strong structures already in place, Giddo will be joining Rachel Hopkins (Female Academy & Pathway Director) in supporting our excellent coaching teams within the boys and girls ‘pathways.
“We’re looking forward to seeing him lead the next phase of our player pathways and support the future generations of Durham cricketers.”