New Somerset Cricket Club coach Winston Reid will have to do without the services of promising young all-rounder Jacobi Robinson this summer.

Robinson, who capped off a memorable Cup Match debut for the champions last year, has broken ties with the West Enders and returned to his roots at Western Stars, continuing a proud family legacy established by father Wayne (Spike) Richardson and uncle Jeff Richardson.

Last summer Robinson elevated his cricket to new heights after starting off the year immersed in cricket studies at Port Elizabeth International Cricket Academy in South Africa, appearing in his first Cup Match as a colt, accompanying the national team to the ICC Inter Continental Cup tournament in Toronto and then spearheading Bermuda to victory over Barbados with a robust unbeaten 59 and a two-wicket haul at Somerset Cricket Club.

Now the budding star has set himself even higher goals this year.

?I?m looking forward to making the national squad, winning trophies with Stars and getting back into the Cup Match team,? said Robinson.

?I really want to be a part of the ICC campaign and so I?m willing to do whatever it takes to get there.?

After spending seven years at Somerset, Robinson reckons the time is right to begin playing against the bigger clubs in the Premier Division.

?I wanted to get some experience under my belt before I moved to such a quality team,? Robinson continued. ?Now I think I have reached the stage where it is critical to play competitive cricket and I think I?m at the level now where I have established myself as a cricketer.

?So I think the time is right for a change in order to test my abilities more as a cricketer.?

Insisting his decision to pull anchor at Somerset had nothing to do with the recent sacking of uncle Jeff as coach, Robinson said his heart had always been at Stars.

Robinson, who began his cricket career playing among Stars junior ranks until age 13, could now be put to task sharing the new ball with Saleem Mukuddem and solidifying the void left in Stars? middle order following the departure of jovial all-rounder Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock to Southampton Rangers.

?Everyone has welcomed me back with open arms,? he added. ?And it feels good to be back and it is part of my family tradition.?

Robinson?s father, Wayne, was once a feared left-arm spinner while Jeff was one of the league?s hardest hitters, batting in the middle order. Both also represented Somerset in Cup Match towards the end of their playing careers.

But severing ties with Somerset, Robinson admitted, was a difficult decision to take.

?It was a hard decision to make because Somerset helped me to become the player that I am,? he added. ?But it was a long, hard thought-out decision . . . my decision actually came about after years of thinking about it.

?I?m going to miss my former team-mates and the club because they did a lot for me . . . especially when I went to South Africa. They really stuck by me.?

During his term at Port Elizabeth, muscular-skeletal scans revealed Robinson had been harbouring a previously undetected back injury stemming from a flawed bowling action.

?I?ve been working on getting my back strong and it?s getting better,? said Robinson, currently training with Clay Smith?s national team.

?Training is coming along nicely and I?m just trying to get as much physical practice and bowling in as possible ? working on my technique and trying to get my line and length down.?