Lancashire youngsters join academy

Lancashire have added a quartet of players to their 2008/09 academy intake, with a further four youngsters still being assessed.

Tom Hardman, John Kettle and Liam Livingstone will join the academy while Jordan Clark returns for a second year.

Leg-spinner Livingstone, 15, is the youngest member of the academy. Batsman Clark and all-rounder Hardman are 18 while wicketkeeper-batsman Kettle is 19.

The other four who are being re-tested for physical competency are Chris Connolly, Luke Perry, Kathryn Cross and Muhammad Abid.

Lancashire's 2009 player of the year Steven Croft is a graduate of the academy

All eight players started the academy programme earlier this month, with re-tests taking place towards the end of the year and the final academy intake to be confirmed in early 2009.

Lancashire academy director John Stanworth said: “Although only in its seventh year, the academy has already seen seven of its graduates sign professional contracts for Lancashire – that is a fantastic achievement, and the primary objective for establishing the academy.

“We have very high expectations for our academy members, and this is why we have a very thorough and stringent selection process. We are always looking to raise the bar and challenge those players in the programme.

“The players will train as a squad at Old Trafford twice a week, and during the winter months will get the opportunity to train along side members from the first-team squad, providing further inspiration and insight during their development.”

The 2008/09 academy is aiming to add to the seven players who have already gone on to sign professional contracts with Lancashire, not forgetting two others who signed contracts away from Old Trafford.

Steven Croft, Tom Smith, Karl Brown, Steven Mullaney, Stephen Parry, Steven Cheetham and Simon Kerrigan are all academy graduates, and all form part of the 2009 Lancashire squad.

Meanwhile, all-rounder Luke Proctor and spinner Michael Baer have signed 12-month scholarships for 2009. Proctor is a graduate of the academy and while Baer goes into his second year scholarship player.