Hampshire's Cricket Development office is continuing its policy of supporting the youth of the county with their Cluster Group Schools coaching scheme.

Under the auspices of senior Hampshire coach, Rajesh Maru, the scheme is being extended all over the county to introduce and entice children from all levels to partake and enjoy cricket.

Raj Maru coaching

Maru, seen here coaching children from the feeder schools of Springhill School in Portsmouth, hopes that the scheme's main aims of increasing the knowledge of the sport will further develop cricket in Hampshire's educational establishments.

"Primary school teachers in the cluster group have an inset day with our Youth Development Officer, Alan Rowe" stated Maru.

"The primary schools nominate four or five kids from year 5. We are looking for the best athletes with good eye-hand coordination, not those who already play for a club as they are already in the system.

"What we look for is for the secondary schools to provide us with the facility, a sports hall for two hour sessions, so that when these kids move to that school, they already have the infrastructure of a team in place."

Two coaches from Hampshire are joined by those from nearby clubs (Les Randall from Portsmouth [right] and Purbrook's Mike Burrows [left] are in attendance), while scope for a Women's development coach is provided.

"Everyone should benefit from this," he feels. "Secondary schools inherit 16 or so good cricketers, the cluster schools get quality coaching and competitive cricket and the clubs create school links, as per the rules of the accrediation for the Southern Premier League.

"And we at Hampshire Cricket also benefit, as we get initially better identification of good cricketers at an early age, and the chance for them to get better and better means the England side in years to come will also profit."

© Hampshire CCC