The Centre of Excellence at the County Ground is a very busy place to be at the moment, and in the lead up to Christmas it will be getting even busier. The one to one coaching slots are proving to be very popular and are becoming heavily booked throughout the winter.

Two dates when individual coaching is still available are Tuesday December 17th and Friday January 3rd 2003, and if anybody is interested they should make contact with the Centre.

The Centre of Excellence will also be running holiday courses over the Christmas break that will be open to all, and any enquiries should again be made on 01823 352266.

Somerset Cricket Development Officer Andrew Moulding also spoke about two new courses that are being run at the Centre.

The first of these is the 'Cricket Young Leaders Award' that is intended for sixth formers.

He told me: "The aim of this course is to enable young leaders (16-18) to help to introduce cricket to primary school age children by giving them basic cricket skills and an ability to organise fun game activities related to cricket."

The second course is an 'Introductory Course' which is intended to enable interested adults to develop the skills and knowledge to assist ECB coaches working in club junior sections.

Mr Moulding continued: "We are very keen to promote these two courses, and we will shortly be circulating details to all schools and clubs across the county."

Invitations to take part in the Under 13's Indoor Inter Cricket competition 2003 are in the process of being sent out to all secondary schools across the county.

Last season the six a side competition was won by Danesfield Middle School from Williton in West Somerset, who will no doubt be keen to hang onto their title.

The competition that gets underway after Christmas, and concludes with a final at the County Ground later in the spring, last year attracted twenty four entrants, and this year Mr Moulding is expecting even more teams.

He told me: "This year the ECB are intending this to be a national competition so we are expecting a big response from schools when the invitations are sent out."

© SOMERSET