Jason Kerr (Somerset)
Former England U19, Somerset and Derbyshire all rounder Jason Kerr is now in charge of the Somerset Second XI and the Academy. Here he shares his thoughts on the Academy system and also the current state of second team cricket.
How has the Academy system helped the development of players?
I’ve only been involved with the Academy for a year now, but from what I can see it’s given the Academy players a taste of what professional cricket is about; of what’s expected of them. Also, an idea of the fitness and lifestyle pro’s experience and a general understanding of what the expectations are.
So your Academy players get to mix with the pro’s on a regular basis?
At Somerset, we have tried to integrate the Academy into the first team training programme so they have got that familiarity - if they do make the grade they do know the guys and are not intimidated and feel part of the set up.
What is the age range at your Academy?
Well, technically there is no age range. But I’d like to be 15-18 year olds. I don’t want to work with younger kids than that because I feel they don’t really get the benefits out of the Academy. And I want an Academy that integrates with the second team, so I need to work with the older kids that you can actually throw in the deep end. We’ve had fifteen year olds that have actually played in the second team this year and haven’t looked out of their depth which is a good sign. You get to find out more about their mental side as well as their ability, which I think is really important.
There have been various arguments on the need for second team cricket. Why is it important?
You still need second team cricket for a feeder system into first team cricket. My feeling is that the gap is getting bigger between the two. But if there was a full second team programme in place then I would certainly see the benefits of that. The guys have to learn their trade somewhere and if you just have a youth set-up then the only cricket you are likely to play is one-day cricket. These players need to learn to bat for two days and also what its like to spend that amount of time in the field.
So in an ideal world, with unlimited investment, what would you do to improve second team cricket?
I would play all the fixtures on first-class grounds and have all the facilities available. To improve English cricketers, you need the best facilities that are available – playing on out grounds and not having the facilities to prepare properly does limit you. A big one for me is preparation – if you can train properly on good facilities, then you improve and you can take that into games. If you haven’t got that preparation, you are going into the games blind effectively. And you are just relying on what you ability is at that stage.
In your own career you experienced pretty much everything – from being in the second team, to performing in the first team, to being left out of the side, to encountering injuries. Has that experience helped you in your current role?
I see my role sometimes as a bit of a councillor…or baby sitter! I did the position last year as self-employed. So I ran it exactly how I wanted it with no one really telling me what to do. As you say in my career, I had failures, got dropped, and got told I wouldn’t play again. That’s the stuff that you have to deal with in second team cricket. You have young guys coming in with aspirations, mixing with disillusioned guys who are not sure how to get back in the first team, or wondering where they are going in their careers – whether they will be playing cricket next year. So you are a shoulder to cry on and you are the coach; it’s the whole package. Having the experiences I’ve had, I think it’s worked out pretty well.
But you think the general health of the game is in pretty good shape?
I think its heading in the right direction, but you hit the nail on the head when you asked about limited resources. Unfortunately everything in cricket seems to come down to finances and that certainly puts constraints on it. I have seen some seriously talented cricketers this year, but it’s whether they actually want to play cricket now and whether they can actually stay in the system. If the finances aren’t there, you will lose some good players unfortunately.
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