Ian Blackwell left the rains of Somerset far behind on Sunday when he jetted out to the sunshine of Australia with the rest of the Academy players for the first part of a winter that he hopes will conclude with a place in the England World Cup team in the spring of 2003.

This has been a busy twelve months for the twenty four year old all rounder. Last autumn he got his first taste of the big time when he represented England in the Hong Kong Sixes, an experience that made him even more determined that he wanted to develop his cricketing career further.

After Christmas he embarked upon a campaign that saw him change his diet and lose weight and achieve higher levels of fitness with the express aim of improving his performances on the field.

All of his pre season hard work paid off when he scored an impressive century against Yorkshire at Taunton in May that was watched by Duncan Fletcher, which obviously left its mark on the England boss.

As a result of this `Blackie' was named in the Academy squad this winter, and then got his chance to play for the full England side in the recent ICC trophy in Sri Lanka where in the final group match against India he scored 82 hard hit runs and took wickets with his slow left armers.

Before he left he told me: "It should be a good trip to Australia and I'm really looking forward to it. The first six weeks will be mainly fitness training in Adelaide that I know will be hard work and then on November 27th I join the England One Day squad."

I asked him about his experiences in the ICC trophy in Sri Lanka. He told me: "Of course I am very pleased to have had the chance and delighted with the way that things worked out for me. It was good to get the call against Bangladesh, and then to be named for the match against Zimbabwe was a real thrill. I could have scored more runs in that game but I was then chosen to play against India."

How did he feel playing against one of the best one day teams in the world. He told me: "I wasn't really nervous at all, in fact I probably feel more nervous going out to bat at Taunton than I did out there. It was great to be playing against the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and I relished smacking some runs against them and trying to bowl them out."

With regard to the triangular one day series in Australia this winter he told me: "I know that it wont be easy out there because this time Andrew Flintoff and Craig White are in the squad, but I shall be looking to keep myself on the right side of the manager, and hopefully my chance will come along."

What about after the triangular series I asked. "What I really want is to be included in the squad of fifteen to take part in the World Cup in South Africa that starts in February," he told me and judging by his achievements so far in an England shirt this could well happen.

© SOMERSET