TALENTED cricketers in Hertfordshire are to benefit from the expansion of a partnership between Rickmansworth School and the county association.

The Scots Hill school and Hertfordshire County Cricket have been working together since October 2013 when the county and the ECB made a combined contribution of £25,000 towards the cost of specialist equipment to support delivering the sport at an elite level. This included nets and mats, bowling machines and flooring that suits cricket but does not affect the playing of other activities in the school’s sports hall.

Rickmansworth and Herts have now entered into a three-year agreement that will see county players use the school’s sports hall as their winter training base across all age groups from October to March.

Watford Swimming Club, Croxley Youth FC and Harefield Gymnastics Club are among other organisations to use the school’s sports facilities. Headteacher Keith Douglas told the Watford Observer on Monday: “We very much see ourselves at Rickmansworth as part of the community so all of our facilities are open for the local community to use, either as part of a community use agreement or as lettings to the local community as well.

“This is top notch. This is working with the county cricket team and it’s promoting excellence so therefore some of the young people that you see here this evening, some of whom are from Rickmansworth School, they are the best in their standard and we hope to see them representing the county or maybe even the country in the years to come.”

Former Kent spin bowler Minal Patel, who made two England Test appearances in 1996, helps coach the Hertfordshire players across the age groups and he is impressed by the facilities the school has to offer.

He said: ““There are plenty of places to do it [coaching in the winter] but not plenty of places adequate enough to do it at this kind of level and have this range of options. We can do fielding practise in here, you can have batting, you can have three bowling machines, you can get through the whole range all in one hall and that is a rare thing to happen.

“You’re finding a lot more modern sports halls are getting bigger but the flooring here is really conducive. A lot of the new ones are not sprung floors, they’re wooden so the bounce is not realistic for cricket. They’re great for every other sport, but this one with the mats as well is really conducive to good cricket practise.”