EXPERIENCE and continuity are the keywords driving youth development at York Cricket Club.

While this season’s weather has KO’d far too many games for the junior section's liking, the future remains bright.

That was the verdict of club youth co-ordinator Mark Burn, whose remit also covers a specific training role with the under-13s teams, while Derek Lancaster looks after the U15s.

Both those age groups train each Friday at the club's Clifton Park base, where weekly training sessions regularly attract 20 to 25 players in each of the two sections.

Despite the too frequent washouts, the U13s ‘A’ team have won each of their two league games and their lone cup encounter, while Lancaster’s U15s remain undefeated as this week they embarked on defending the Yorkshire County championship title they have held for the last two summers.

Said Burn: “We’re all pleased to know that the youth section remains very healthy at the club.

“And this season we have seen a big increase in numbers among the under-nines through the Chance To Shine initiative which Derek Lancaster conducts for Yorkshire.

“For the U13s and U15s we average 20 to 25 in both age groups running ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams in both age groups.”

Burn added that often the U13s ‘B’ ranks would include two or three of the better U11s players, similarly the ‘B’ ranks of the U15s would be swelled by several of the more promising players from the section two years below.

He said: “We like to give the younger players experience of playing the older ones. That makes the step up to higher cricket much easier and gives the youngsters a sense of continuity.”