Seven chosen to launch Northamptonshire academy

Northamptonshire have chosen seven young cricketers, aged between 16 and 21, to comprise the first intake of the club's new Cricket Academy.

Four of them - Ross McLean, Jamie Wade, Paul Coverdale and Chris Goode - represented Northamptonshire Young Cricketers last season, while Robert White and Martyn Dobson were both on the club's professional staff.

David Paynter, the great-grandson of former Lancashire and England batsman Eddie, is a former member of Yorkshire's Academy who impressed Northants officials while playing for Worcestershire's Second XI during the summer.

The group met up with the newly-appointed Academy Director, Richard Smith, for the first time at the weekend, and immediately got down to work with fitness assessments and a cricket practice session.

"Basically, we've identified these players as having the potential to play first-class cricket," said Smith, who is due to accompany the England `A' squad to the West Indies early next year as Sports Science advisor.

"The idea is that the Academy should provide a seamless route for our most talented youngsters from youth cricket into the Northamptonshire first team. They'll obviously be working with David Capel and the other coaches on improving their technical proficiency, but the programme contains a lot of other elements as well."

"We'll be focusing on developing physical and mental skills - including tactical awareness - and dealing with various lifestyle issues too."

"The programme also sets out to advise and support the players through their formal and broader education. That means work on areas like time and financial management, and even training to deal with the media!"

"The cricketers will have individually tailored programmes based on their own development needs, and they'll receive plenty of one-to-one coaching and support, combined with Academy training camps."

Although the project is now up-and-running, after more than a decade of discussion, the Academy's formal launch will take place next March as part of Northamptonshire's build-up to the 2001 season.