Guernsey prospects are off to La Manga

A PAIR of local juniors have been chosen for the 2008 ICC European Centre of Excellence. Ben McVey and Andrew Hutchinson will travel to the La Manga Club leisure resort, Spain, in April for the five-day training camp.

'We are delighted that the boys have been selected,' said the Guernsey Cricket Board's new high performance coach, Jeremy Frith.

'Both have worked hard for a number of years in the PwC Schools of Excellence and this is a wonderful progression for them.

'This experience will broaden their cricketing and cultural horizons and provide them with a wonderful opportunity to develop as cricketers and as people.'

The announcement follows the news that Kris Moherndl and Blane Queripel have been picked for the ICC European Cricket Academy in India next year.

Under-17 player McVey is a leg-spin bowler and middle-order batsman.

Grammar School student Hutchinson is a quick bowler who turns out for the island's U-16 side.

The centre will see 28 of Europe's most promising young cricketers between the ages of 13 and 17 from countries such as Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Israel put through their paces.

It will be run by new ICC European development officer Richard Bedbrook.

'The idea behind it is to identify and select a crop of the most talented young cricketers in Europe at this age group and provide them with an opportunity to develop their talents through excellent coaching and support services in order for them to achieve their potential,' he said.

'It is with great pleasure that we announce the names of the 28 cricketers who will participate in next year's event, making this one of the largest camps yet, and we hope that all involved will benefit from the coaching and support on offer from the ICC Europe coaching team.'

The coaching team consists of five coaches who will lead sessions on batting, bowling, fielding and wicketkeeping with the focus also being on physical conditioning, tactics and leadership.

In addition to Bedbrook, the coaches include Centre of Excellence director Richard O'Sullivan, who has been involved with the initiative since it began in 1999, and ICC European development officer - performance Philip Hudson, who organised the camp for the previous four years.

Both have extensive coaching experience at club, county and national level.

Working alongside Bedbrook, Hudson and O'Sullivan are two Europe-based coaches including Roland Lefebvre, who is national youth coach for the Netherlands Cricket Board.

Lefebvre had an extensive cricket career that saw him play first class county cricket in England and Australia and take part in two World Cups with the Dutch side.

Finally Mickey Lund, who is Denmark's cricket development officer and a current member of the Danish national side that competed last month in the ICC World Cricket League Division Two in Namibia, will be present.

The ICC European Centre of Excellence has for the past 10 years been an integral part of the ICC European Development Programme and the results are starting to show, with several of the graduates now playing for their national sides, including Daan van Bunge and Alexei Kervezee of the Netherlands.