It could be argued that Hampshire’s Emerging Players Programme is one of the County’s best kept secrets – but it shouldn’t be. It is in fact the vital link between youth cricket in Hampshire and the Academy, as Bobby Parks, who is responsible for its delivery, explains.

“The Programme is supported by the ECB through their general grant to the Counties and the Minor Counties run similar schemes as well. The principal idea is to fill a gap for the young talented player who is possibly good enough to get into the Academy but is really too young. In the past we’ve taken fourteen year olds into the Academy but it didn’t fit well because of their school commitments. It’s also useful as a tool to find young players, develop them, and prepare them to go on to the Academy.”

The players on the Programme are between thirteen and sixteen years old, which dovetails neatly with the age they would be expected to progress to the Academy. The scheme means that Bobby can hand players on to Tony Middleton who are technically proficient, as well as letting the Hampshire set up take a good, long look at young cricketers to see if they are likely to be able to perform at a professional level.

The players are generally spotted as they come through Hampshire’s age group system. “That’s our most sensible port of call” Bobby tells me. “I will talk to coaches, go and watch teams practice and hopefully next year go and watch them play more. I’ve only been part of this for eighteen months so I’m finding my feet as well in terms of best practice. The other way I look for players is to make the Districts aware that there is something here waiting for their players should they be good enough for the County age group sides. There has to be a pyramid system and the EPP sits on top of the County age groups.

“We offer the Emerging Players a two hour group session once a week, plus a one-on-one with one of our senior coaches [those involved with Hampshire’s professional squad]. That’s how highly we value it. Most of the coaching is done by me, because I control it and it fits with what I do. Most of the EPP stuff is evening work and my wicketkeeping work with the pros and the Academy is during the day.

“It’s the scouting element that gets a bit tough and I am reliant on knowledge from other people. I have a rolling list of players who have been identified and I will make sure that they will be monitored over the next few years.” Bobby’s list starts with the ten year olds, including a young keeper who came through the wicketkeeping clinics Bobby’s been running, and includes 25 to 30 names. The Emerging Player Programme itself accommodates up to eight young cricketers, so competition for places is understandably fierce.

Up to this point all the players picked for the Programme have been boys, but this is not a deliberate policy. “The ECB are very keen that we do not exclude girls,” Bobby explains “but the girl does have to be of a very high standard although we did just miss out on one who is now within the England set up. It is difficult though, because we’re looking to produce professional cricketers and at the moment the girls aren’t even fully professional at the very top of their game.”

The Hampshire set up is very keen to keep an open mind about how talent is identified and brought through the system so that no promising young cricketer is missed. Once they are in the system, there is no doubt it works. “Testament to that is the number of young cricketers we’re producing” Bobby reminds me. “Three in the England Under 19s for the World Cup speaks volumes. The process is good, but we need to make sure enough players come into it. The public schools have to be a port of call because they produce cricketers through quality coaching from a young age. We have to make sure that the Districts and the clubs sit alongside that. The difficulty we find is that we identify a talented fourteen year old who has missed out on the technical grounding and it’s hard to make the call whether to bring them on or not. Our sport is so technical.”

The first four players have just graduated from the Emerging Players Programme into the Academy, including Wilf Marriott who recently won the Gray-Nicolls Trophy for the most outstanding schools cricketer. “It is an elite group” says Bobby “and that’s absolutely right. I have no qualms about that at all.” And seeing as we want the best players here at Hampshire, who would argue with that?

Jane Cable
 

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