Jack Leaning is off to Australia this winter to further his game.

And, fingers crossed, the Heworth-based teenager could head down under in October having played a part in an LV= County Championship title success.

The 19-year-old York Cricket Club star will spend his off-season playing grade cricket under the watchful eye of former Aussie Test batsman Phil Jaques at his Sutherland club on the outskirts of Sydney, where the experienced left-hander is captain and coach.

Leaning follows in the footsteps of Tim Bresnan, who spent a winter playing alongside Jaques in 2005/6.

The right-handed batsman got to know Jaques well while they roomed together on Yorkshire’s pre-season tour of Barbados in March.

“It will be good to work with Phil all winter and enjoy a season playing abroad,” said Leaning, who has recently signed a new two-year contract with the White Rose county through to December 2015.

“I didn’t really know him that much until we went on pre-season to Barbados and he was my room-mate. I spent a lot of time with him, and I got on with him really well.

“He’s obviously played the game at the highest level, so I can learn a lot from him. He’s told me there’s been a few of the lads there over the last few years, and I can’t wait to get there now.”

Leaning has enjoyed an exceptional season both in league cricket and for Yorkshire’s second team, meaning he made his LV= County Championship debut last month.

He has scored 1,144 runs in 16 matches for York this season at an average of 104, including four hundreds, and has scored 822 runs from 20 matches in all cricket for Yorkshire seconds at 45.66, including ten 50s.

Unfortunately, however, not everything he has touched has turned to gold this summer, with him posting a two-ball duck on his Championship debut against Surrey at Headingley in late July.

The popular teenager had come into the match after two days following Gary Ballance’s call-up to England’s Twenty20 squad. He was caught at slip off experienced left-arm spinner Gary Keedy, although he is not the first batsman to suffer that fate and probably won’t be the last.

“I felt really, really confident, and I couldn’t wait to get out in the middle,” he reflected.

“I felt in the best nick I had done all season. I just pushed at a wide one a bit, but that’s cricket. I’d had a couple of hundreds for my club and a 70 and 80 for the seconds, so I was feeling good going into it.

“It was good, although I’d have liked to have lasted a bit longer. Cricket’s one of those sports where even if you work hard, things don’t always go your way.

“I’m feeling really good about my game at the moment. I changed quite a few things over the winter, and things are really starting to work. As long I become more consistent and keep scoring runs, it’s good. I feel in a really good place at the moment.

“They are just little technical things, the basics really. It’s just about making sure your bat’s going down straight and that you keep watching the ball.

“I’m obviously delighted to re-sign for the club, and I’m really happy to get a two-year contract. It gives me a bit of stability to work on my game, to really improve and put things in practice that I’ve been working on.”

It remains to be seen whether Leaning will add to his solitary Championship appearance this summer, but all he can do is keep scoring runs and taking wickets with his ever-improving off-spin and hope it is enough.

One thing is for certain his Yorkshire coaches rate him very highly, indeed. “Jack’s a great young player in the making,” said first-team coach Jason Gillespie.

“He’s a very good young fella. We’ve identified him as one for the future, and that’s why we want to lock him away and assist with his cricket to help him become the best player he can be. We want him to have a long and fruitful career with Yorkshire.”

And Ian Dews, Yorkshire’s director of cricket development and a former York player, added: “I’ve known Jack for a long time, and he won’t mind me saying this. When you see Jack play in the nets, you think ‘how’s this kid on a professional staff?’.

“But a phrase we use is ‘substance over style’. He gets a lot of runs, and he’s worked out his own way.

“He’s not one of these players who’s by the book in everything, but he’s done brilliantly and gets runs.

“He earned the right to play in that Championship match. He’s a very good player, and one we see pushing for a place in the Championship side.

“We’ve seen what Alex Lees can do – he’s just scored a double hundred in only his fourth or fifth Championship match. There’s some exciting players, and Jack’s one of them. He’s putting pressure on everybody above to score runs.”