DARRYL Woods has been appointed Oxfordshire’s acting head of youth cricket for the remainder of the winter.

Woods, who has been a performance coach for the county for eight years, as well as holding the role of chairman of youth cricket, takes over on a temporary basis from Rupert Evans, who stepped down at the end of last month.

Oxfordshire’s head of cricket position will be advertised in the new year, along with an announcement regarding the coach of the senior side.

However, Woods is keen to do as much as possible to aid the development of youngsters over the winter months.

Latest Sport news

“These are exciting times for Oxfordshire youth cricket,” he said.

“With several of our homegrown talent going on to bigger and better things with first-class counties, this all bodes well for the future.

“There is a clearer pathway for our players and, with the new assessment system being a huge success, I can only see us going from strength to strength and I hope to be a small part of this during this period.”

Luke Ryan, business and operations manager, added: “We are extremely excited to welcome Darryl into this role.

“He will bring continuity for the rest of the winter along with some fresh and innovative ideas.”

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.