A CRICKET coach from Kent has the opportunity of playing an important part in the development of the English game.

Phil Relf, of St Stephens, Canterbury, has just begun working for the English Cricket Board as a national coach and development manager. He will specifically oversee the education of level two and three coaches across the country.

Relf, 33, who guided St Lawrence and Highland Court to the Kent League title in 1998 said: “My job is about helping the development and training of coaches.

“I will be running four national level three courses a year and monitoring how the level two courses are going. I am going to be responsible for the South under 13s, 14s and 15s squads, so will still get some hands-on coaching and will be running and administering the Lord’s Taverners scholarships.”

Relf’s appointment follows a successful spell of his own on a Taverners scholarship in New Zealand. He spent six months working with coaches at the high performance centre in Christchurch.

Relf’s work clearly impressed the ECB and, after they revamped their coaching structure after former national coach Paul Farbrace’s departure to Kent, they offered him a place in the new-look set-up.

Relf, who skippered Whitstable in the Kent League last season, said: “It is something the ECB have been planning because the national coach was doing so many things.

“It has been made a bit more specific now and there is someone under me for level one and other courses below that. There will also be other guys looking after the England under-15s, 17s and 19s.”

Relf, whose parents Colin and Bunty run the Mermaid pub in Bishopsbourne, near Canterbury, already has ideas.

He said: “Often coaches go on a course and then there is no contact with them. I would like to hear about how they get on afterwards and what other support they need.”

Relf gained his first cricket coaching qualification while still a pupil at Canterbury's Simon Langton School.

He graduated to Level 2 while at Exeter University and gained his Level 3 award after a week-long residential course at Lilleshall four years ago.

He is taking his level four qualification, which is the one held by Farbrace and Kent’s new coaching co-ordinator Simon Willis, and expects to complete it in December 2005.

Relf previously worked for the ECB on a part-time basis on level two and three courses, while teaching PE at Borden Grammar School in Sittingbourne.