THE Somerset Cricket Board will be expanding the District Festival activity in 2015 as part of their constant striving to ensure that the performance pathway is continually improving.

Recent years have seen great strides forward. The introduction of the Winter Devel-opment Programmes at centres around the county have allowed a greater number of young cricketers access to extra high quality coaching.

The District Festivals have also moved to earlier in the season so they are now an integral part of the county age group summer squad’s selection proc-ess.

The introduction of the new format should have two major benefits: n Provide the opportunity for many talented young cricketers to play extra games of competitive cricket at a time of year when the majority of cricket clubs have already stopped for the season.

n Provide players with a greater opportunity than ever before to showcase their talents and earn a place in a Somerset winter county squads.

Greg Kennis, the SCB Head Coach, said: “We believe that these changes have improved the quality of cricket being played and also created a fairer and more transparent selection process into the county age group summer squads.