The Somerset Women and Girls lead coach Kieran Peters has just returned from leading the Somerset Under 18 and 15s on a 13 day cricket tour of Sri Lanka.

Shortly after returning Kieran talked about how the tour had gone.

He said: "Overall it was a really good trip and both age groups did well. Coming from a winter block where were working on technical skills to be thrown into a lot of matchplay was a nice break to the winter programme and it was really good to see how some of the things that we have worked on had transitioned into gameplay.

“Even though performances as you’d expect were not quite right up there to start with getting back into match play, as the tour went on across all three skills they all got better and as the tour went on evidenced some really good learnings from the winter when we were at home.

“There was also evidence of some really good learning from when we were out there playing in different conditions and facing different challenges.”

What’s next for the squads now they are back?

“Now we are into the rest of our winter programme, with both age groups going into a tactical block and beginning to prep for the start of the summer. Once April comes then that signals the end of the winter programme and we start to transition outside ready for a busy season ahead.

“This has been a great preparation for the summer and really good for the girls , and also good from a coaching context to see what has stuck and what areas need to develop moving into the season. It was also really good to get them away as a group to spend sometime together before the season starts.”

“For some of the younger ones this was the first time they had been away from their parents for so long and the furthest they had been so there were some good life lessons, some good experiences and some good fun together along the way.

“We were really well received and Lions Sport who host the tour do a really good job. They have a really good relationship with all of the hotels we stayed at and the teams we played at so it’s a really great place to be to play some cricket.”

Kieran added: “Finally I’d like to say big thanks to the three coaches who came with me on the tour- Dave Roberts Sam Braid and Tilly Bond, their help was invaluable.”