YOUTH and schools cricket in the county is blossoming. That's the view of Kent Cricket Board's director of development Jamie Clifford.

Not surprisingly then, he took time out to preach the development gospel in a presentation to county members that showed why Kent’s schools and clubs are ahead of the game in comparison to other regions of the country.

Clifford said: "The concept of managed cricket development plans in Kent came into being in 1990 and back then we had 83 youth sections in the county.

"As of last summer there were 181 sections, which is a direct consequence of running primary school coaching courses and sitting down with clubs to talk about how best to run their youth sections.

“There are 38 cricket boards across Britain and Kent Cricket Board is much like the others, in that the vast majority of work is carried out by volunteers, all sorts of people, in all walks of life doing their bit to support the game in Kent.

"We are going to lots of primary schools to introduce Kwik Cricket with a soft ball to show young children cricket can be fun. Then we go to secondary schools to coach Inter Cricket, which is more competitive and played with a hard ball.

"We also go to clubs to help develop the crucial link between them and their local schools, which is fundamental to the success of this programme to date."

The facts do make for impressive reading. Almost 400 clubs are now affiliated to the KCB.

The board also delivered 93 cricket courses at secondary schools last summer under the Chance To Shine banner and had 52 schools enter the 2005 Kent Schools’ Festival.

The KCB’s achievements in primary schools are even more stunning with 356 schools involved in 37 kwik-cricket tournaments in 2005, organised by 60 affiliate coaches who helped run 509 coaching courses last year.

That network ensured 10,000 primary school children in Kent received some form of KCB coaching last summer.

Clifford added: "We may talk about unearthing talented players, but we will be in a position to do that because we have such a broad base in the grass roots of the game.

"We have a fantastic cricket community in Kent and I find it hugely exciting to be part of something that has such a reach."