Worcestershire skipper Daryl Mitchell has praised the way first year professionals Josh Tongue and Ben Twohig acquitted themselves during the pre-season tour of Abu Dhabi.
Mitchell expects the England Development Programme duo to have a part to play at first team level – either this summer or in 2017 – if they continue to make progress.
Paceman Tongue and spinner Twohig were both give opportunities by Director Of Cricket Steve Rhodes in the UAE.
Twohig had a particlarly memorable first scalp in senior cricket in dismissing former England batsman Jonathan Trott during the two day clash with Warwickshire.
Mitchell said: "They are great characters, good lads. For an old bloke like me, it's nice to have the youngsters around and making you feel young.
"It was a good experience for them and they both got some cricket in as well.
"Ben's first wicket for us was Jonathan Trott which isn't a bad one and I thought Tonguey bowled exceptionally well in the white ball cricket he played as well.
"It was good to have them around and I'm sure at some point, maybe this year, maybe next year, they'll certainly have a part to play in the first team as well, particularly the way they are progressing."
Mitchell believes the set-up at New Road now enables young untried players to feel comfortable when slotting into the first team dressing room.
He said: "Can a first tour be a bit daunting for young lads? It can be but the way the structure is now, we spend a lot of time with the Academy lads.
"They are used to the enviroment and the 'Worcestershire Way' goes throughout the club including the Academy so they know what is expected of them.
"It is a pretty seamless sort of link hopefully into the professional game from the Academy now."
Mitchell admits the storm which disrupted the early part of the Abu Dhabi tour was amongst the most spectacular he has witnessed.
He said: "It was amazing. I've never seen anything like it really. It was so dark. You could only see about 15 feet in front of you in the middle of the day.
"It lashed it down for a 30 minute period. I thought the building was going to collapse at one point!
"In one way, it was something quite good to experience apart from affecting the cricket.
"Fortunately we managed to catch up the cricket by playing the last four days which was not ideal but it was important to get the cricket out in the middle and get in plenty of game time under our belt.
"In the end, I think we only effectively lost about three quarters of a fifty over game so it worked out pretty well.
"We played most of our cricket in the main (Zayed) Stadium rather than the nursery ground because of the weather which was a bit of a bonus as well."
