CAPITAL cricketing prospect Keith Morton can't wait to test himself against the best on a trip of a lifetime to Australia along with seven other Scots youngsters.

Morton, who plays his cricket for Penicuik, was joined on a plane bound for New South Wales yesterday by SMRH and Scotland under-19 spinner Andrew Brock, RH Corstorphine's Michael Yellowlees, Calvin and Fraser Burnett, Mark Petrie, Matthew Parker (Arbroath) and Willie Rowan (Prestwick).

They will be training at the new Sydney International Sports Academy. The youngsters are the first inductees on Telford College's cricket performance course which started four months ago with the backing of Cricket Scotland. They will now be putting their skills and fitness to the test in Australia for the next three months.

Former George Watson's College pupil Morton, son of former Scotland cap Willie, said: "We have been working really hard over the last four months for the trip to Australia. "The course at Telford has been great because we have been working on everything, not just our cricket. We have done a lot of strength and conditioning and running and that will help us out there."

Left-arm spinner Brock, 18, added: "We have all been getting really excited about the trip over the last few weeks. To go to Australia and play will be a great experience and we are all so keen to improve our cricket because the Telford course has been beneficial for us and pushed all our games on.

"I had a meeting with Craig (Wright, their coach] just prior to Christmas and we agreed that my game has moved on a lot with full-time training since I left school so I see Sydney as the next step in my progression as in our matches out there we will no doubt face some top batsmen."

On arrival in the Southern hemisphere, they will be greeted by 2008 Carlton pro Peter Wooden and Carlton favourite Stevie Gilmour, who are head and assistant coach respectively at the academy. Brock said: "I saw first hand how good a player Peter was, he was really hard to bowl at. He used to be the pro at Arbroath and the guys from that club who are heading to Australia with me have told me that he is a top-class coach, too, so I am looking forward to working with him.

"Stevie was my East of Scotland under-18 coach last year and I enjoy working with him, so I am sure the two of them will keep us right and help us learn a lot."

The youngsters will also get specialist sessions from guest coaches including Australian Test batsman Phil Jaques and former West Indies coach David Moore. As a result, former Scotland skipper Wright believes the boys can make great strides in the sunshine before coming back fresh for the 2009 domestic season.

He said: "I have been really pleased with the way the guys have settled into the course and knuckled down to the hard work. For some of them it took time to get used to living in Edinburgh and being away from family, but they are a close-knit group and that has helped them.

The boys will get great coaching and advice every day and the matches they play in against some of the best under-21 cricketers in Australia will really show them where they need to improve and what they can work on to make sure they go on and earn full Scotland caps.

"It will also be a great life experience for them all as Sydney is a wonderful place. "I hope they make the most of it and come back better people and better cricketers."

This article first appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News and is reproduced with their kind permission.