Somerset's young batsman Neil Edwards who was due to spend the first part of the winter working at the County Ground in Taunton is now back at home in Penzance recovering from glandular fever.

The illness couldn't have come at a worse time for the Cornishman because in just a few weeks he is due to fly off to Australia with the England Under 19's and this will be a major setback for him.

The tall left hander made his Somerset debut in 2002 when he opened against the West Indies A and gave a good account of himself in both innings against a strong attack by scoring 31 and 27. He also made several appearances for the Seconds as a result of which he was chosen for the trip to Australia this winter.

Somerset chief executive Peter Anderson told me earlier today: "At the moment there are frantic liaisons going on between assistant coach Mark Garaway and the England Under 19 manager to try to sort things out, because Neil is due to leave England at the end of the year for the six week tour."

The chief continued: "The problem is that to recover from glandular fever Neil needs to take a complete rest, during which he cannot train, so at the moment he is back at his home."

The Somerset boss concluded: "Neil feels very sorry for himself as we do for him, but it is a hazard in professional sport that injury always seems to come along at the wrong time. Professional sportsmen have to learn to live with these things and for Neil this is a steep learning curve."

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