Somerset launch bid to "bridge the gap" between state and privately-educated youth players

Around 150 boys and girls on county's books to benefit from extra coaching while club aims to increase number of matches for state school teams

Somerset will give extra coaching to young state-schooled cricketers on the club's books in a bid to "bridge the gap" to their independently-educated teammates.

The county have announced the initiative, which will mean around 150 state-educated boys and girls who are classed as pathways players will receive an extra 24 hours of coaching on top of their usual county age group sessions.

In addition, Somerset are also aiming to create more opportunities for state school teams to play matches against both club and school oppositions this summer following recent investment in the county's state school programme.

The initiatives come after the club appointed a dedicated state school lead, former Somerset Cricket Foundation community coach Thom Bunker, in October.

Matt Drakeley, who has been head of talent pathway at Somerset CCC for the past two years, said: "[Thom] is someone who is really passionate about state school cricket. He also has a good understanding of pathway cricket and what it takes to become part of that.

^{Matt Drakeley, head of talent pathway at Somerset CCC (Jacob Hurry)}

"Our hope is that his role will allow us to identify more talented players from state school backgrounds and bring them into our pathway.

"In addition to the state school programme, we are also delivering the MCC Foundation programme - which allows us to provide coaching to around 160 boys and girls who sit outside of the traditional pathway and it's something we have been running for three years now.

"This allows us to offer additional access for players who miss out on the pathway from a state school background, giving them the best opportunity to enter the pathway at a later date.

"All in all we have created supplementary offerings for around 300 state school players which is really exciting. I am looking forward to seeing how this opportunity helps these players develop and growing our understanding of what the potential of these cricketers looks like by giving them an appropriate level of access.

"The state school programme is initially being targeted at under 11s to under 16s - as this is where we feel we can make the biggest impact on player development and help level the imbalance in access to cricket."

The programme is being delivered in partnership with Weston College, in Weston-super-Mare, which has recently installed new cricket nets into a facility just off the M5.

^{Somerset's home of Taunton (Harry Trump/Getty Images)}

Both the Somerset and the MCC Foundation programmes will run indoors until the end of April, before a summer offering begins outdoors from early May.

Matt added: "We are trying hard to bridge the gap that exists in terms of access between state school pupils and those in the independent sector because we know there is only so much that players are able to access from their clubs. 

"The accessibility of match play in state schools has gone down significantly over the years so we are doing all we can to help narrow the gap that currently exists."

Thom said: "I am really excited about the state school programme which has been set up to provide opportunities for players who attend state schools to realise their potential and give them the best chances to eventually go on and play for Somerset.

"This programme is about improving the level of coaching available to all those state school pupils who are involved in the pathway. This is a major development and I am thrilled to be a part of it."

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