SPORT tutor Scott Nicholls is hoping to launch a cricket academy at York College after receiving a £400 bursary from SkillsActive's Nancy Ovens Trust.

Nicholls, 28, has been awarded the money to shadow professional coaches at Headingley Cricket Academy on Wednesday afternoons this year.

The college will introduce a rugby academy in September to run alongside those already provided for talented teenage footballers and basketball players.

Now, Nicholls is hoping that his sessions at Headingley will help bring two hours of daily cricket training to the college's syllabus as well.

Speaking about the plans, former York College student Nicholls said: "The academy would not take off for the next academic year, but we are hoping to set up a site similar to Headingley at our college.

"There's a set-up at Dunnington at the moment, but it's a commercial training facility and costs money.

"Here, we have Yorkshire League and Yorkshire B' team players at the college. Our cricketers probably have more ability than the footballers, but no real training facilities.

"What we are doing now is called enrichment. We are trying to help the pupils develop with their club teams with a couple of hours in the nets every week.

"I am hoping that we can develop links to get somewhere to play and also develop contacts at Headingley, with the view to visiting their centre on a regular basis."

Nicholls is also first-team captain and opening batsman at Acomb Cricket Club, which could prove a suitable outdoors site for the academy, complementing the four indoor nets that have been incorporated into the new £60 million college complex opening at Sim Balk Lane in September.

Having first played cricket with Acomb at the age of 11, the former Westfield School pupil is also hoping that his Headingley experience will aid his club's ambitions to attain charter status.

Nicholls currently coaches Acomb's under-15 team and believes studying Yorkshire's academy staff in Leeds will assist in his bid to qualify as a level three coach.

With two additional level two-standard members, Acomb would then be free to apply for charter status.

Nicholls said: "My motivation to apply for the bursary was three-fold. I want to achieve my level three ECB coaching badge, set up the cricket academy and get Acomb charter accredited.

"The ECB have already agreed to pay half of the £1,500 cost towards my ECB badge and I'm hoping that watching the coaches at Headingley will help in terms of the six coaching workshops I will be required to organise.

"I'm also hoping to adopt some of their drills when we are in a position to begin our academy in York.

"I'm looking to generate funds to buy a bowling machine as well and believe that the Headingley staff will give me ideas in terms of devising a development plan to achieve charter status at Acomb."