Sussex Academy for 2016

Cammish might get a reprieve if Callum Jackson leaves

Me too, but I'm hearing he may have had offers from elsewhere. He should have been given the keepers slot in the 50 over games, in my opinion

Interesting about Jackson, where might he end up if he left? Most places seem well-stocked with keepers, though Essex may be looking if Foster retires. I hope he stays if we have a change of management, otherwise he's best moving elsewhere if we continue to see Cachopa as our back-up keeper.

I see Haines has been called up to an under 19 training programme thing this winter.

So Ward becomes the fourth player in a row from outside the county to be offered an Academy contract by Sussex. What is the point of having an Academy unless you are going to develop your own players? If the Academy coach had taken Greenfield's approach when he was a youngster he wouldn't be where he is now! It is not as if we don't have talented young players of our own coming through. We have Billings, Collard, Oxley, Smith, Gordon and Rattle who are all good enough to be selected for the Academy. Unfortunately now probably only four will. Having selected a player from Bermuda, Holland, Jersey and Oxfordshire the time has surely come to select some of our own!

It is not if our own players haven't produced superb performances this season:

Ellen Burt 39 wickets @ 15 with a best of 4-11 against Essex and runs 821 @ 46 with a best of 77 against Surrey
Tara Norris 34 wickets @ 15 including a 5-for and a six-for in three days and 389 runs @ 24
Flora Bertwistle 26 wickets @ 13 with a best of 3-10 against Hampshire
Joe Billings 562 runs @ 31 with a best of 210 against Surrey
Will Collard 20 wickets @ 18 with a best of 3-5 against Oxfordshire
Nick Oxley 19 wickets @ 31 including 7-86 against Brighton and Hove
Nick Smith 17 wickets @ 23 with a best of 5-15 against Cambridgeshire

I expect these seven to join Tom Haines, Daniel Doram, Jonty Jenner, Delray Rawlins and new recruit Harrison Ward in the Academy next season. I would offer Phil Salt, and George Garton junior pro contracts, release Cammish and promote Izzy Collis to the Women's squad. How times have changed. Gone are the days of someone getting into the Academy with 300 runs or 9 wickets as now it's 562 runs and 17 wickets! To think Tom Gordon and Sam Rattle haven't made my Academy squad despite taking 14 and 12 wickets respectively.

For the EPP I would select Ella McCaughan (471 @ 59 and 18 wickets @ 9) and Ella Wadey (387 @ 20 and 11 wickets @ 37), seamers Coco Streets (17 wickets @ 13 and 213 runs), Ella Bourne 15 wickets @ 13 and 289 runs, Hollie Young (14 wickets @ 6 and 153 runs), Ellie Bottling (14 wickets @ 30 and 202 runs), Ellie Robinson (14 wickets @ 32), spinners Sam Rattle (12 wickets @ 28) and Nancy Harman (11 wickets @ 9), seamers Tom Gordon (14 wickets @ 29), Ben Twine (9 wickets @ 51) and Sam Hobbs (8 wickets @ 22), opening batsman Tom Clark (271 runs @ 25) and Scott Lenham (171 runs @ 57), wicketkeeper-batsman Alistair Orr (216 runs @ 72) and seamer Bethany Beadle who in 2014 took 16 wickets @ 14 but missed 2015 through illness.

My 19 man Under 17 boys squad for 2016 is:

Batsmen: Tom Haines (c) (17), Harrison Ward (16) new, Tom Clark (15) new, Scott Lenham (14) new, Max Lincoln (15), Joe Walker (16) new and Josh Wood (16) new Total -7
Keepers: Joe Billings (+) (17), Alistair Orr (15) new Total - 2
Spinners: Will Collard LB (16), Nick Oxley SLAC (17), Sam Rattle SLA (17) - Total 3
Seamers: Nick Smith (16), Tom Gordon (15), Ben Twine (17), Sam Hobbs (16) new, Ollie Bradley (17), Christy Heath (15) new, Jamie Atkins (14) new Total - 7

Ward, Clark, Lenham, Walker, Wood, Orr, Hobbs, Heath and Atkins to replace Doram, Jenner, Rawlins, Haynes, Fazakerley, Sear, Lloyd, Nightingale and Piper.

My Starting XII: Haines (c), Ward, Billings (+), Clark, Orr, Lenham, Oxley, Twine, Gordon, Smith, Collard, Rattle

My Under 17 girls squad would be:

Bertwistle (c), B Beadle, M Beadle, Botting, Bourne, Dowse (+), Harman, Harris, Humphreys, Landy, McCaughan, Robinson, Streets, Tagg, Wadey Western (+), Whittington, Willis, and Young

My starting XII: McCaughan, Wadey, Bourne, Streets, Botting, Young, Bertwistle (c), Western (+), Robinson, Whittington, Harman and B Beadle

We have promoted Doram (Holland), Jenner (Jersey), Rawlins (Bermuda) and Ward (Oxfordshire) in the last two years isn't about time we gave some of our own youngsters (Haines, Bertwistle, Billings, Burt, Collard, Norris, Oxley and Smith) a chance?

Well, Coverpoint .... thoughts?