FORMER Kent and Somerset seamer Ben Trott is hanging up his bowling boots after taking up a new local education authority teaching post based at the county’s re-vamped county academy in Canterbury.

Kent released the Wellington-born player in September after a four-year stint on the staff, but he is making use of his teaching qualifications to stay put at St Lawrence.

From January, the likeable 29-year-old will become study support centre manager with a brief to raise literacy and numeracy levels for children in the Canterbury area.

“I’ll be working hand in hand with the LEA to give selected children who may not be achieving in the classroom a different approach and new environment in which to learn,” said Trott, who took a four-year teaching degree course in Plymouth before starting out in cricket.

“The hope is that the venue of a professional sports club and the opportunity of talking to county cricketers and England players will help motivate the students who come here.

“They have a similar set up at the cricket academy in Somerset and they have seven to 800 children go through their system each year.

“We’ve had a lot of initial interest from schools here and if that holds good then I see no reason why we won’t eventually match those sorts of figures.”

As well as teaching, Trott will be responsible for budget and the centre’s state of the art IT unit.

“I think it’s a really exciting project and I can’t wait to get started now. It has been difficult to wrap my head around not playing professional cricket again, but I’ve given it a shot for seven years and this was too good an opportunity to turn down.

“After that length of time I felt people on the circuit should know what I’m capable of in cricketing terms and I really couldn’t face travelling up and down the country going for trials here, there and everywhere.”

In welcoming Trott’s decision to set down roots in the garden of England, Kent’s Chief Executive, Paul Millman, added: “Ben is hugely popular within the Club and I am delighted he has accepted this new challenge.

“The Study Support Centre has been set up in partnership with the Schools Advisory Service of Kent County Council and I am certain that many local children, who we look forward to welcoming to the Centre, will enjoy pursuing their studies in a sporting environment.”