Promising Hampshire youngster secures MCC Groundstaff place

Teenage Hampshire YCs starlet Steve Snell has batted himself on to the MCC Groundstaff at Lord's next summer, writes Mike Vimpany.

Snell, a prolific run scorer in the Hampshire youth teams in recent seasons, will join the Lord's academy next March and spend the 2002 season playing for the MCC Young Professionals.

"It's a dream come true," beamed the Ventnor batsman/wicketkeeper, who scored close on 2,000 runs this season.

"It's my ambition to become a professional cricketer and, provided I do well at Lord's, a few windows of opportunity in the county game might open for me," he added.

Snell, 18, who lives in Shanklin, thought his prospects of a summer at Lord's might have vanished when he broke his ring finger in a trial at the MCC Indoor School last winter.

But his sheer weight of runs for Hampshire YCs and undefeated Hampshire League champions Ventnor this season got him a second chance.

"We were very impressed with Steven when he scored a century against the Cross Arrows last year and, when we invited him back last week, he got a very good 60 against the Kenya Kongonis," said former Middlesex batsman Clive Radley, who is chief coach of the MCC Young Professionals.

Snell, strongly tipped to play for Havant in the Southern Electric Premier League next summer, jets off to Cape Town next week.

He is to spend the winter playing for Hermanus in the Boland Super League.