In 2002, I predicted that a 12 year old was, one day, going to play International cricket for England.

He was incredibly skilful with the bat, a fantastic athlete even at that age and had the ability to dominate the game against his peers.

His name?

Jos Buttler.

When he made his ODI debut in February 2012 I felt proud to be associated with him in a small way. My early - quite brave - initial claim had come true.

Yes, he was a good ball striker and had potential but at the time, I was judging Jos on his physical and technical skill alone and not on the mental and character attributes that we now know as being so incredibly vital within high performance sport.

Relative age effect: First quartile athletes

Imagine that the academic (and age group sport) year is split into four quarters. Each quarter is three months in length.

There have been a number of research articles covering a number of sports, that uncover the trend that players born in either the first quartile or second quartile are more likely to be selected in early youth squads (Under eight through to U14).

The name for this theory is Relative Age Effect (RAE).

Young players who get into these squads receive more contact time, better coaching provision, more playing time and therefore, more experience than players who aren’t selected for junior squads. This is a major advantage in later life.

So, back to Jos……

Jos Buttler was born on the 8th September 1990. That is just 8 days into the academic year and this is historically, a huge advantage when it comes to early Talent Identification processes.

Think of the physical and experience advantages that a 12 year old Jos Buttler had in comparison with a year-group peer (Player B) who’s birthday was 22nd June 1991!

They would be in the same academic year group, therefore, Player B is being judged by the same criteria as Jos. Now that is surely unfair when you put it like that, yet this is exactly what I did in 2002.

Jos was fast-tracked into the Somerset Academy, two years young and then started practicing every day with older players such as James Hildreth (Somerset) and Gareth Andrew (Worcestershire and Somerset) on a daily basis.

He benefitted from being such a stand out in his age group. It led to me making a unheralded decision to get a 12 year old onto a 14–18 year old Academy and his development accelerated as a result.

Player B: Jack Leach

Player B (and yes this is real) is Jack Leach (Somerset and England Lions).

In 2016, Jack picked up 65 Championship wickets at 21 apiece and almost led Somerset to the County Championship. Leachy was in the same U13 County Age Group Squad in 2002 as Jos Buttler despite being born 287 days later.

Jack was a small fella who “rolled the ball” out of his fingers because at the time, he could not grip it properly. He was understandably physically immature within his age group. As a result, Jack did not stand out and therefore, did not get the same attention and adulation as his mate Jos.

It took me a further two years before started to notice something a little bit special about Jack Leach. His bowling was tidy, he still did not spin it much but he was a hungry cricketer who loved to compete with bat, ball and in the field. He was not spectacular in any discipline, but he was mentally up for each ball of every game.

I liked him, but not enough to put him on the Academy, until I invited a few additional lads into an Academy session and made them do a bleep test.

After collapsing on the floor with exhaustion, I asked Leachy and his mates to get back on their feet and do it all over again!

Jack ran his heart out, getting within three shuttles of his previous score. Others did not get close to their previous score.

Jack then projected his stomach contents into the corner of the Indoor School.

Jack Leach now had my attention and he was given an Academy place in the next cohort the following September.

Q3 and Q4 Super Strengths

Often, a player born later in the year (in quartile three or four) is forced to develop different skills in younger life in order to compete with their more physically and cognitively developed peers within the same academic year group. Competencies such as perseverance, resilience and fight are developed at earlier stages in their lives than their Q1 and Q2 Counterparts.

Leachy’s breakthrough year into 1st XI County Cricket came in 2015 at the ripe old age of age of 24.

Therefore, my question to all coaches, particularly those coaching the younger age groups is to think carefully about their selections.

Are awesome young players (such as Jack Leach) still missing early identification because we are side tracked by or more attracted to their slightly older and more physically mature counterparts?

I made that mistake initially with Jack back in 2002.

Do your own tests

Run the numbers on your squads and see how they line up?

Put them into Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4. Let me know how they line up.

Further Questions

1. Can we develop the vital competencies of resilience, perseverance and fight at an earlier age into our Q1 and Q2 players?
2. Can we be more patient and be more insightful with our selections in our younger age group squads?

Incidentally, one of the standout players (according to Andrew Strauss) from the recent ECB North vs South One Day Series in Abu Dhabi was Lancashire’s Liam Livingstone.

Liam was born in Q4 (4th August 1993), made his First Class debut in April 2016 just before his 23rd birthday and was selected for England Lion’s only a few months later.

Watch his career with interest!