Ritchie is due to assume the role in April, after leaving her current post as the head of national programmes for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

The role saw Ritchie lead the ECB’s first national programme designed for children "All Stars Cricket", which has reportedly seen 185,000 children engage with the game over three years.

The ECB also secured £1.4 million ($1.8 million/€1.7 million) of Sport England funding and delivered a number of large-scale projects, leading to her inclusion in the Financial Times’ Rising Stars list.

Ritchie returns to England Netball, having previously worked for the governing body for seven years as national coaching manager and national development manager.

During that period she led England Netball’s flagship participation programme Back to Netball, which won the National Lottery Sports Project of the Year Award in 2012.

Ritchie’s appointment has been welcomed by England Netball chief executive Fran Connolly, who previously held the director of development role.

"We are delighted to be welcoming Katy back to England Netball. Katy’s understanding of grassroots netball is second to none and her passion and drive for the sport has always been evident," Connolly said.

"Katy made such a huge impact during her time with us several years ago and has continued to grow in to one of the most successful development leaders in English sport.

"She is very deserving of this position and I’m excited to be bringing her back into the fold.

"We need people like Katy to help us to continue to be trailblazers in sport and to continue to develop opportunities across the country for people to participate in this fantastic sport.

"Katy’s experience and outstanding ability to inspire teams and drive forward change will be incredibly useful in the years to come with many of the exciting new plans and projects we have in the pipeline.

"I would like to wish Katy the best of luck in her new role and look forward to seeing what other incredible contributions she brings to our organisation."

England Netball say Ritchie will be working closely on their range of grassroots programmes.

This will include their new under-11 Bee Netball programme to Walking Netball and Back to Netball.

"For me, netball is about connection," Ritchie said.

"It is about the relationships the sport fosters, the chat on the side-line, the wing attack shouting 'here if you need,' the post-match WhatsApp fist pump emojis celebrating a win.

"I have been lucky enough to experience first-hand the positive impact being a netballer has and I am extremely passionate about giving as many women and girls the opportunity to experience that connection.

"Whilst I have been away, I have relished watching netball thrive.

"From that Commonwealth final, the celebration of the 100,000th Back to Netballer, seeing the Vitality Roses in publications like Vogue and Elle, to attending an amazing home World Cup in Liverpool with my club.

"Ten years ago, these were things we could have only have dreamt of.

"Returning to the sport I love as director of development is a huge privilege and I look forward to working with the netball family to ensure the sport continues on this exciting trajectory."

England’s senior team are currently third in the International Netball Federation World Rankings.

The team secured a bronze medal at the 2019 Netball World Cup, which took place in front of a home crowd in Liverpool.

England Netball say more than 160,000 have been inspired to play netball or more netball since the tournament.