AMBITIOUS officials at Parley Cricket Club are looking to enhance their fruitful and burgeoning youth system by adding an Academy structure.

It will be run under the tutelage of ex-professional Chris Park, whose first season as captain of Dorset coincided with an upturn in the county’s fortunes last season.

The format of the Academy will involve small group sessions, one-to-one coaching and individually-tailored fitness programmes.

It is not designed to compete with Dorset’s Emerging Players’ Programme, which is for the elite young players in the county, but will be pitched at those performing just below this level.

Currently, six of the eight boys on the Emerging Players’ Programme are from Parley and two are on the Academy staff at Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.

Park, who is a level three coach, is excited at the prospect of helping develop Parley’s young players having had recent experience in delivering Northamptonshire’s EPP Programme and Academy, the county where he was on the books as a player.

The first intake to the Parley Academy have been selected from players who participated for the club during the 2014 season and there are three different squads – junior boys (11-13), senior boys (14-16) and girls.

A Parley spokesperson said: “The incorporation of an Academy structure is the next stage in our aim of becoming the foremost cricket club in the area.

“Our youth teams have been incredibly successful in recent years, winning the National Under-15 Cup in 2006 and finishing runners-up from more than 1,500 teams this year.

“They also reached the last 16 in 2013 and 2007 and reached the last eight of the boys’ Under-13 National Cup in 2011. Not to be outdone, our girls last year reached the quarter-finals of Under-13 National Cup.

“And on an individual basis, former Parley players and current professional cricketers David Payne and Tom Barber both played for England Under-19s and both are on professional contracts with Gloucestershire and Hampshire, respectively.”

Any keen young cricketers of any age wishing to join Parley Cricket Club should email Dean Ayres on trh3@talktalk.net Further details on the website parleycricketclub@talktalk.net