Napier - last of the Class of 98 Photo CricInfo

English cricket has not got a great record of bringing promising young players through to maturity. For some reason, many schoolboy stars struggle in county cricket and fail to make the transition from prancing colts to strutting thoroughbreds.

It is perhaps a little early to pass judgement on the England Under-19 side that won the youth world cup in South Africa, although five of that touring party are still very much in the frame for international honours.

Chris Schofield of Lancashire has already played Test cricket and is currently with the National Academy team in Australia. So too are Northamptonshire's Graeme Swann and Robert Key of Kent, who have both reached England A standard. The captain on that trip, Owais Shah, is also in Australia with the Academy, having represented England in one-day internationals, as has the Middlesex man's vice-captain, Paul Franks from Nottinghamshire.

Five players from five different counties. Yet there was one county that provided no fewer than five players on that 1998 tour, three of whom played in the final itself. Stephen Peters, Graham Napier, Ian Flanagan, Jonathan Powell and Jamie Grove all played for Essex.

Essex has always been a county that prides itself on bringing players through from within its own development system. Three England captains came out of the Essex system in comparatively recent years - Keith Fletcher, Graham Gooch and now Nasser Hussain. Then there were other England players like John Lever, Nick Knight, John Stephenson, Mark Ilott and Neil Foster, with others like James Foster coming through.

It was thought at the time that the Essex Class of '98 would be clamouring to get their names on the honours board. Instead, they have hardly managed to establish themselves in the Essex team or even the game itself. With the news that Stephen Peters has signed for Worcestershire, there is now only one of the five, Napier, still with his home county.

Left-handed opener Flanagan was released at the end of the 2000 season, having failed to command a place in the side. Opening bowler Grove was released the year before and joined Somerset for two seasons, not without some success, before his release at the end of last season.

Jonathan Powell was a surprise choice for the England A tour of 1998, which he joined in Sri Lanka straight after the junior world cup. He played one match in Sri Lanka, during which he did not distinguish himself for the right reasons, and with a congenital back complaint, never played first-class cricket again.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment for Essex is the departure of Peters. He scored a match-winning hundred in the Under-19 final to earn the man-of-the-match award. Great things were expected from the slight right-handed batsman with an apparently sound technique and the temperament to cope with the big occasion. Despite several moments of promise, he never really fulfilled his potential and now he has sought to resurrect his career in pastures new.

Essex did not want him to go, but he has accepted a three-year contract with Worcestershire without too many qualms about leaving home. "Essex offered me a new contract, but I was so impressed with what Tom Moody is building at New Road that the move was a relatively easy decision to make," Peters said.

Worcestershire's Director of Cricket, Tom Moody has no doubts about the potential of the 23 year-old. "Stephen is young and ambitious and plays his cricket in a positive manner, and we look forward to him adding depth to our middle-order batting."

However, back in Chelmsford, the chairman of the Essex cricket committee, Graham Saville, is not in such a buoyant mood. "We are very disappointed that he has decided to leave. We were keen for him to stay to fulfil his potential with us."

Commenting on the fact that four of the five young hopefuls from 1998 are no longer with the county, Saville said, "We were very proud to think that we produced five members of that touring party and equally disappointed that four of them are no longer with us. But we are hopeful that the one who is left will develop into the very fine cricketer that he has the potential to become."

Meanwhile, the hopes Essex harboured that the famous five would form the backbone of another successful side have been dashed. Most of the all-conquering team of the '80s and '90s were home-grown. This was meant to be the next bumper harvest. Nowadays, however, cricket is not like it used to be and the increased movement of players from county to county means that we might never again see a major proportion of a successful side born and brought up in the county the players represent.

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