The Cricket Development Department at Trent Bridge are preparing to link up with primary schools across the county, helping children improve their generic skills - movement, balance, speed and agility - before they start to teach specific cricket techniques.

Said Notts Cricket Development Officer Eddie Burke: "The generic skills are key ingredients for good cricketers and if they are not developed at a young age, they will never be recaptured in the same way.

"The objective is to give them a flying start and our coaches will be going into schools with a variety of equipment, including hoops, ladders and balls of various shapes and sizes - all designed to help develop generic movement and lateral skills through play.

"If children don't have those core skills in place by the ages of six-nine for boys and six-eight for girls, it becomes much more difficult for them to play well at a later age.

"These are the fundamental stages of Long Term Athlete Development. But if they are established at this age they will have the building blocks to go on and become skilled cricketers."

The Development Department will also be talent spotting during their three visits to each school, inviting the most agile children to Trent Bridge for further training and games sessions.

Eddie added: "Hopefully, in the long-term, we will strengthen our county squads at the younger age groups, because the players will already have the basic agility and co-ordination needed to be successful."

The scheme, which will only be available to schools that have links with the 21 Focus Clubs within Notts, is an extension to the existing community programme and meets with the requirements of the ECB national strategy in terms of visits to schools.

It will be launched in September across 50 primary schools and will increase the number of visits made to each of them from four to seven. There will be lessons for Years 2 and 3 until Christmas, and sessions for Years 5 and 6 in the New Year through until June 2006.