During the last few days the Centre of Excellence at the County Ground in Taunton has played host to coaching courses that are being attended by over seventy of the most talented young players in the region.

The three courses for young cricketers in the Under 13, 14 and 15 age groups were run by Keith Tomlins the former Middlesex player who is now the ECB coach for the Wales and West region of the country.

The ECB regional coach told me: "These are the best young players in each of the age groups and will be coming to Taunton from places as far afield as Cornwall and North Wales."

He continued: "During their time here they received coaching from a number of people including Trevor Penney of Warwickshire who dealt with fielding and Kevin Shine and Mark Garaway who looked at the link between player performance and practice."

Another of the coaches involved in the courses was former Somerset favourite Tom Cartwright who even at the age of sixty seven is still heavily involved in developing young cricketers.

Tom enjoyed a long playing career with Warwickshire before joining the Cidermen in 1970. During his six year stint at the County Ground he played in over 100 championship games and took 408 wickets as well as influencing a number of the younger players on the staff.

The former all rounder who now lives in Neath is still employed by the Wales Cricket Board to work with young players up to the age of sixteen.

Keith Tomlins told me: "Tom is an amazing character and even though he has passed retirement age he is still working as hard as ever in Wales with young players. His knowledge of the players he works with is quite phenomenal."

As I stood and watched in the Centre of Excellence the Somerset `old boy' was quietly sharing his expertise with a group in Under 14 age group that included Jack Cooper of Taunton CC, Ben Rudge of Ashcott and Shapwick and Jonathan Todd of Taunton School.

© SOMERSET