Cricket development in Pembrokeshire will receive a boost with the appointment of a cricket development officer for the county before Christmas. The cricketer chosen for this newly created post will be based at County Hall in Haverfordwest, initially on a part-time basis of 14 hours a week for three years. It will be a county council appointment and the working hours of the dedicated cricket development officer will be flexible to include evening and weekend duties. The development officer must have previous coaching and/or teaching experience and a full driving licence. In addition, a recognised cricket coaching qualification will be a pre-requisite of the job. Why is the county council making this appointment and what is it designed to achieve? Russell Jones, sports development officer for Pembrokeshire County Council, explained: "A big part of the job will be working with the schools to get more cricket played and fostering links between the schools and clubs. These links will ensure the progression routes and junior development leading to the regional squads and beyond." He is an active and a qualified cricket coach himself and has been carrying out some of the duties which will be undertaken by the new development officer. However, because of his general sports development role within the county, the time he can spend in dealing with cricketing matters is restricted. Russell Jones was quick to emphasise that the new post was not intended to take over from the existing willing volunteers in clubs and schools who are currently involved with cricket development. He went on to say: "A dedicated specialist is needed for cricket to pull everything together, but not to replace the existing volunteers. We have development officers for football, netball, tennis and Disability Sports Cymru and there is a need for someone to make the same input into cricket. "The aim is to have more coaching in schools and to increase the number of schools participating in Kwik Cricket. Cricket coaches would also like to see more cricket played in the county's comprehensive schools. "The development officer could work towards this end and also help to further promote cricket for ladies and girls which is already firmly established in the county." Funding for the new post has been arranged by the Pembrokeshire Association of Cricket Coaches in conjunction with Pembrokeshire County Council, the Cricket Board of Wales and the Pembroke County Cricket Club. The appointment is the result of discussion and negotiations over a number of years and has been helped by the fact that earlier this year, Pembrokeshire became recognised as an official cricketing region within Wales. Dragon coaching organiser Stuart Beresford spends a lot of time arranging cricket coaching and coaching himself. He added: "This initiative is to ensure the continued development of high quality cricketers in the county of Pembrokeshire and to sustain the game at club and county levels. We are already supplying young cricketers to the Welsh squads, and now have one playing for England." This was a reference to Llangwm's highly talented left-handed middle order batsman Stephen Inward, who has been playing against some of the best bowlers in Pembrokeshire in Divisions One and Two since the age of 13. Continuing, he said: "The aim of the post is to deliver a three-year development programme in the county for young cricketers." In the last 15 years, Pembrokeshire's schools, clubs and coaches have played a role in the development of former Glamorgan early order batsman Alun Evans (Dinas) and current Glamorgan opening batsman Daniel Cherry (Cresselly). The new post will help to ensure that other young cricketers in Pembrokeshire go on to play first class cricket and that some could become international cricketers playing for England. Cricketers interested in applying for the position can obtain further information about the post by contacting Russell Jones on (01437) 776189 or 07968 156250 for an informal chat.