This is a big summer for 25-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Simon Guy, who for the first time in his career has been given the gloves at the start of the season ahead of the vastly experienced Richard Blakey.

The nimble Rotherham-born player, currently based in Darlington, is well aware, however, that he must score runs as well as shine behind the stumps if he is to hold down a regular place.

Yorkshire promised at the end of last summer that Guy would be given an early chance and one of the reasons for this policy decision was that the club wanted to keep him sweet in order to hang on to him.

Guy created an excellent impression when he made his first team debut in 2000 and word quickly got round the other counties that here was a prospect well worth watching.

With the evergreen Blakey staying as fit as a fiddle, Guy managed only 13 first class appearances for Yorkshire in his first four seasons and it is well known that several other counties have shown a keen interest in him at various times.

He, too, must have got despondent on occasions at finding himself stuck in the second XI when he knew full well that he could be playing regular first team cricket for another county.

Now he is brimming with enthusiasm at the prospect of a long summer ahead of him and his only concern is that he does his job well.

He could not have wished for a better all-round start than he got in Yorkshire's opening three-day match against Bradford-Leeds Universities' Centre of Excellence when he clocked up a belligerent 90, held on to eight catches and pulled off a stumping.

Since then, the runs have not come as freely as he would have liked but he has held on to most of his catches, including three in Yorkshire's win over Dorset this week in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.

An active jack-in-the-box behind the stumps, Guy has always shown just as much energy at the crease and he's not afraid now to go for the big shots.

Slight in stature, Guy still packs plenty of punch when he gives the ball a crack - as the Bradford-Leeds students discovered to their cost when four of his blows brought soaring sixes, including one great shot over extra cover.

In many ways, he's a pocket-sized version of one of his illustrious predecessors, David Bairstow, who loved to be part of the action whether it was while batting or with the gloves on.

"It was nice to get in the middle again this spring after six months in the gym and it is always so different outdoors to what it is in the indoor nets," said Guy.

"As a wicketkeeper, I have never really done any technical work on my batting until this winter when I spent a lot of time with coach Kevin Sharp.

"I concentrated on improving one or two technical details and I feel it has paid off."

Guy also enthuses about a one-to-one session he had at Headingley during the winter with Jack Russell, the esteemed former England and still current Gloucestershire wicketkeeper.

"Jack was absolutely brilliant. We just chatted about little things and getting that extra one per cent which makes all the difference."

Guy admitted that his long apprenticeship in the second team had been frustrating but he did not resent it.

"I can see that it has been a difficult situation because Richard Blakey has been a great performer for the county down the years and has never done anything wrong."

Guy has other important things on his mind as well as cricket at the moment. His wife, Suzanne, an air hostess at Newcastle Airport, presented him with a son, Isaac, about four months ago.

"He is an absolute dream and it's so nice after somebody has knocked my stumps out to be able to drive up the A1 and see that big smile when I get home," said the proud father.

Updated: 10:21 Saturday, May 15, 2004