Somerset's reserve wicket-keeper Carl Gazzard who hails from Penzance has just flown out to the sunshine of Perth in Western Australia where he will spend the winter training and playing cricket.

Whilst he is `down under' Carl will be living with Piran Holloway, another Cornishman who is on the Somerset staff, and will play for Scarborough Cricket Club who are coached by Holloway and who are one of the top Western Australian League clubs.

Looking back over 2002 the twenty year old wicket-keeper batsman told me: "I feel pretty happy with the way that things went for me this season and I have come back well from a finger injury in the final second team game."

He continued: " From a cricketing point of view I did all that was asked of me. I made my first class debut against West Indies A and developed as a cricketer which is what I want to continue with."

At the end of the season `Gazza' was given a new two year contract about which he is delighted. He told me: "It's nice to know that the club want me to stay. My two years take me up to the end of Rob Turner's contract, so by that time we will all know exactly where we stand."

"I'm going out there to work hard at my batting and when I come back before the start of the new season I want to be a first class cricketer. I know that I can play at that level and aim to put the pressure on Rob Turner for the number one spot. I want to play first team cricket from the start in 2003."

© SOMERSET