THE success of Somerset CCC has been linked to improving the quality in junior cricket across the county.

Head of cricket at Taunton School Pete Sanderson said the county side has helped nurture an early love of cricket for young people in Somerset.

Speaking to The Cricketer, he said: "If you're in an area where cricket is strong, then kids are coming into cricket before they even get to school age.

"We have a strong club network in Taunton and the surrounding area of Somerset as a whole. That definitely helps the development of the game. All clubs around here do massively good work to promote the game and develop an interest in it to start off with."

Somerset star  Tom Abell attended Taunton School and Sanderson believes that has provided a recognisable face as the image of the game in the region.

"They can see him and it makes it more real," said Sanderson. "Some of them aren't too far away from that. With Somerset doing well, that helps us all."

Sanderson spent 23 years working for Somerset and he believes that the county being a one-club area has helped massively.

"I was at Somerset for 23 years, but that was in youth cricket," he explained to The Cricketer.

"I have the same philosophy, but it is a bit of luck that my philosophy is the same as the school's philosophy. When I was in charge of youth cricket, it was basically to produce cricketers.

"I have always had an ethos of development of players but not at all costs, and not at the cost of the rest."