Aussie to head cricket academy

Legendary Australian wicket-keeper Rod Marsh has been appointed as director of the new English cricket academy.  

Marsh will relinquish his role as director of the Australian National Academy and under 19s coach to take responsibility for the day-to-day functioning of the academy.

It is funded by the England and Wales Cricket Board to the tune of £500,000.

He will act as head coach and will be supported assistant coach John Abrahams and national academy manager Nigel Laughton.

"The Academy system has been fantastic for Australian cricket and I am sure that the same will apply to English cricket," said Marsh.

"It excites me to think that we can have a strong England team as a result of hopefully some of my labours.

"My major target over the next three years will be to develop a base of perhaps 20 players who, in three, five or seven years time, will be very good Test Match and One-Day International cricketers, so that when the selectors sit down to pick a side it will be damn difficult to choose between them."

The ECB National Academy is currently the highest-funded single project in the organisations World Class Plan.

It has been formulated following extensive research over the past two years into the best components of the most successful cricket academies and those from other sports.

"I have been in my current position for over 10 years and I guess there has been a bit of a sameness about what I have been doing," added the highly-respected Marsh. "I feel as though I need a new challenge."