CRICKET: Miles Hammond and Cameron Herring honoured

10:34pm Friday 29th November 2013 in Sport

TWO young Gloucestershire cricketers, Miles Hammond and Cameron Herring, have had their emerging talents recognised.

Hammond heads to the United Arab Emirates with the England U19 squad this weekend for a Tri-series against Pakistan and UAE U-19s, while Herring is one of 11 professional cricketers selected as the first intake for the new Tom Maynard Academy.

Hammond, a 17-year-old off-spinner who won this year’s Academy Player of the Year award, has a great opportunity to impress ahead of the ICC U19 World Cup, which takes place in the UAE in February.

He has already made five first team appearances for Gloucestershire, two first class, two List A and one T20. During the summer he represented England U19s against Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Herring, 19, is a product of Tredegar Comprehensive School and joined the county’s Academy after attracting attention playing club cricket in Wales. He was awarded a one-year scholarship followed by a two-year contract by Gloucestershire in the autumn of 2012 after impressing in the second XI.

At the start of the last season he earned selection as wicketkeeper for the opening Championship game against Essex at Chelmsford and went on to make five more first class appearances.

He will spend ten days with the Maynard Academy from February 13-22 at Desert Springs in Spain, working on a carefully planned programme covering technical skills, strength and conditioning.

The programme finishes with a special one-day match between the Tom Maynard Academy XI and the Spanish national side.

The Academy is named in honour of the former Surrey cricketer who tragically died in 2012. It is headed by Tom’s father Matthew, the former Glamorgan and England batsman, who said: “We are delighted to have had such fantastic support from the counties and I’m really looking forward to working with the players and establishing the Tom Maynard Academy as an integral part of the ECB’s and the counties’ player development pathways.”