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Matt Drakeley, the Head of Talent Pathway at SCCC, is currently out in Sri Lanka with the Boys Under 15 squad.
We chatted with him before the group set off on tour to discuss how the young player’s winter has gone so far across the whole Pathway system.
“Everything is going really well at the moment,” he said. “Since January, our Girls Pathway Programme has started along with the Wyvern Squads, which were formerly known as shadow squads.
“We’ve got nearly 300 players, both boys and girls, training across the Pathway now, so it’s a pretty busy time. It’s really good because we are getting to see a lot of good young young cricketers.
“Our county age groups are now transitioning from working a lot on their fundamentals into a lot of bat v ball work, which again is good and helps us to see where they have all got to as we move closer to the season.”
Discussing the U15 tour, he said: “We will be over there for 12 days and will be accompanied by Andrew Griffiths and Andy Paine. The Under 15 Girls will be going next year.
“During their time in Sri Lanka the boys will play five matches against district teams, who have players of a similar level and then we have got a training day as well.
“The fixtures are mainly in Colombo, in addition to which we will also be going to Yala about halfway through the trip for a safari based excursion.
“We will be in Colombo at the same time as the England Lions, so we are hoping to get the chance to see Tom Abell and a few others when we are out there.
“It’s always a great tour because the lads have been training indoors for a long time this winter, so it will be good for them to get outside and show their skills. Alongside that it also gives the boys a chance to experience what it might be like to be a professional cricketer
“They will be playing in a different environment, in new situations and facing challenges in terms of pitches and spin bowling, so I”m delighted that its something that we can offer to them.
“When we get back we will still have a month of the winter indoor programme left and then we transition outside early April or as soon as we are allowed to get out onto the grass.”
Matt added: “Hopefully they all love the trip and it will help them going forward into the season.”
