SECOND XI coach Giles White is looking forward to helping Hampshire's brightest talent bridge the gap between the first team and the academy.

The former Hampshire opener, pictured above, begins his first season as the coach of the club's second XI, having spent the last four years helping Tony Middleton develop home-grown talent like Kevin Latouf, Tom Burrows and David Griffiths.

Now he is excited at the prospect of working with youngsters like batsman Latouf, wicketkeeper-batsman Burrows and seamer Griffiths at second team level.

White, 33, said: "Griff, Kev and Tom are all beginning their first year on the staff and Mitchell is in his last year with the academy, but he will also be playing a lot of second XI cricket this year.

"I've known them all for a few years now and it'll be interesting to see how they get on.

"All of them trained very hard during the winter. Kev went to Perth with Paul Terry and me, Griff played for the England under-19s in India with Mitchell and Tom has been working very hard with Adie Aymes. His keeping and his batting look in great nick."

White reckons the current Hampshire squad is as strong as it ever was during his eight years as a player.

But he added: "My main aim will be making sure players are ready for the first team and I'll be working closely with Paul and Tony to make sure we get a steady flow of players going from the academy to the second team and on to the first team."

Hampshire 2nds open their season with a two-day match at Somerset tomorrow.

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