Six fast bowlers have been selected to take part in the Potential England Performance Programme (PEPP) this winter, including Middlesex's Tom Helm.
The players – whose average age is under 21 – have been selected for the programme by England Performance Programme (EPP) Lead Fast Bowling Coach, Kevin Shine.
Eighteen-year-old left-arm seamer George Garton from Sussex is the youngest player involved. He will be joined by Sussex team-mate Matthew Hobden, who was also part of the PEPP training squad last winter, Tom Helm (Middlesex), Tom Taylor (Derbyshire), and Nottinghamshire and Essex duo Luke Wood and Jamie Porter, who were both nominated for the LV= County Championship Breakthrough Player of the Year award this summer.
The programme will get underway from the end of this month, with the six players training as a group at the National Cricket Performance Centre (NCPC) in Loughborough under the guidance of PEPP Head Coach Neil Killeen.
The players will then travel to the High Performance Institute of Sport in Potchefstroom, South Africa in the New Year for a two week training camp, before transferring to Johannesburg to help support England’s preparations ahead of the start of the One-Day International (ODI) series against South Africa.
EPP Lead Fast Bowling Coach, Kevin Shine, said: “All these young players are fantastic prospects and all of them have high potential. It’s important our development squads support a variety of different types of bowler so we’re particularly pleased to see two left-arm pace bowlers in this squad – George Garton and Luke Wood.
“The players will spend the first half of the winter focussing on developing their strength and conditioning and working on technical aspects of their game at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough. They will then head out to South Africa in the New Year, which will ensure that they are bowling outside on grass pitches.
“We’re also planning to integrate our own programme with the England ODI squad’s preparations for the their series against South Africa – which will enable all these players to be part of the international environment, giving them an opportunity to practise their skills against England’s leading one-day batsmen and work with the England coaches.”
Potential England Performance Programme (PEPP) fast bowlers 2015-2016:
