This year’s Academy intake is dominated by a strong core of players that have been on the programme for at least twelve months. All-rounder William Vanderspar enters his fourth year having endured a frustrating summer, having scored heavily for Eton a broken finger in the opening round of the ECB Under 17 Championship forced him to miss most of July and August.

Left arm seamer Gurjit Sandhu begins his third term having also suffered from a serious injury that forced him to miss the majority of the competitive summer matches. Both Will and Gurjit demonstrated their growing potential with appearances in the second eleven and they will spend the first phase of this winter’s programme increasing their fitness levels alongside their cricket skills.

Charlie Randall and Jamie Hoddle make up a trio of left arm seamers having both been added to the squad during 2009 from Minor County cricket. Charlie was spotted playing for the Hertfordshire Youth Squads and joined the Academy in January, despite having only two years of representative cricket under his belt he was the stand out bowler in the Under 17 side. Jamie is a product of the Berkshire Development system and having impressed at a pre-season training session at Lords, was quickly installed to the Academy squad.

The two newcomers to the programme need no introduction to any follower of Youth cricket in Middlesex over the last two years. Adam Rossington and James Kettleborough have produced a string of outstanding performances with the bat, amassing ten centuries between them across the Under 15, 16 and 17 age groups. Both players produced match winning performances in 2009, James compiled an unbeaten 142 against Essex while Adam scored 155 against Sussex. Both boys were invited to trial for the ECB Under 18 Scholarship programme for this winter and have recently been selected to travel to India in February.

William Jones and Ajay Sangha are the final two members of the squad having performed consistently in 2009. With captain Will Vanderspar getting injured in the first game of the summer, both boys provided the experience in a young side that performed admirably and was only beaten by eventual National Champions Kent in the two day format. Ajay showed flashes of his natural talent with the bat in both innings against Surrey and three five wicket hauls for Brondesbury in the Premier League demonstrated his development with the ball. Will was as reliable as ever posing a constant threat to top order batsman with the new ball, he also benefitted from playing alongside Steve Finn at West Herts CC.

So with the majority of the group having experienced at least one year on the Academy it was essential that this winter’s programme offered the players something new and fresh. A slight change of focus has provided the players with opportunities to challenge their methods and take greater responsibility over their own development. The players have been able to measure their training performances and in the process have become more self aware which will help them in their quest to become young professionals.

The players have received high quality technical and tactical input from Richard Scott, Kierthi Ranasinghe and Alan Coleman. The highlight of the pre Christmas training sessions was the appearance of Owais Shah who delivered a series of batting sessions that challenged each member of the group to be more positive and look at some of the ‘alternative’ methods that have given Owais a competitive edge at the highest levels of the game.

Strength and Conditioning Coach Luke Woodhouse has worked with each player and structured programmes to develop all facets of health, fitness and nutrition. Richard Thelwell (Psychologist) and Tristan Coulter (ECB Performance Lifestyle) have delivered interactive workshops that are essential components of the Academy player’s development.

With Assistant Coach Richard Johnson joining the coaching staff in January, the Academy players will be keen to impress and force their way into the second eleven once their school commitments are completed. A similar match programme to previous years at the start of the summer will give the players an additional avenue to demonstrate their learning and improvement from the winter training programme.

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