While some players enjoy a break at the end of the season and others make football a priority for now, young all-rounder Joshua Gilbert is fully committed to training with the national squad over the coming months in preparation of next year’s World Division Three Championships.Gilbert, who played only one match for Somerset last summer before heading out to the Norfolk Cricket Academy in England in May on a six-month scholarship, is eagerly looking forward to the sessions after missing out on his club’s promotion and Cup Match success this year. For him, it is like the season is just beginning.“I went training on Saturday and I’m going again tonight,” said Gilbert who left in early May and just recently returned to the Island. “I left in the first week of May but got to play one game, a Twenty20 and left the day after.”And while turn-out numbers have been low, the Bermuda College student is sure things will improve soon. He has been around the senior national team since making his debut as a 16-year-old, but the talented offspinner isn’t taking his selection for granted.Thirty-four local players have been invited to train, including several youngsters who are at the same age as when he got his opportunities. Some of them were on the tour of Florida this summer with the Under-18 team which Gilbert captained.“I’m glad to see there are more guys around my age, more guys to mingle with, you could say,” said Gilbert. “And they are quality players. I captained them in Florida and they know what they’re doing.”Gilbert was coached at the Norfolk Academy by former Lancashire player Chris Brown and he also played for the local Acle Cricket Club. He played eighteen 50-over games for the Premier Division team, taking 25 wickets at an average of about 20. Gilbert, a bowling all-rounder, also scored about 140 runs for the team, batting at number five initially and then opening the innings near the end of the season.“It was my first time getting spin bowling coaching, Chris Brown is a former pro cricketer and played for Lancashire and Minor County side Norfolk,” said Gilbert. “I was in Norwich, a nice quiet area. Usually I would train with ‘Browny’ twice a week for specialist spin bowling coaching, and then would train once a week with my club coach in a one-on-one for batting and fielding. Then on Thursday afternoons I would train with my club team. The coach is Paul Newman who is a former pro for Derbyshire.“There are six or seven leagues and they (Acle) played in the Premier Division. Just above the Premier is a league called the EAPL which is where the Minor County cricketers come from for that county. Guys my age would play in that league, guys who had trials for Essex and Surrey.”The Bermuda Under-18 captain didn’t get a chance to see any country games but he did manage to visit Lord’s, the home of cricket. “It’s something you’ve got to see as a cricketer, every cricketer needs to go there,” he urges.The youngsters who toured England with the BCB National Academy Under-13 and Under-15 teams this summer made a visit to Lord’s. Gilbert has been invited by the Board to help train the Academy players during the winter.“Yes, when I came back the coach (David Moore) approached me about helping out the Under-13s and Under-15s and I thought it would be a great opportunity to pass on what I learned to the younger guys,” he stated.“If I had learned much younger, who knows how far along I could have been. Hopefully this will help them to develop quicker. I’ll just speak to them about my experiences, let them know what I learned out there and what my coaches would tell me . . . what to bowl and when to bowl it and if you’re are getting hit around, what to do. A lot of youngsters don’t want to bowl spin because they don’t want to get hit for six”Gilbert, at 15, was one of the youngest colts in Cup Match history when he made his debut for Somerset in 2009, the year after another 15-year-old, Tre Govia, made his debut for St. George’s. Gilbert was one day younger than Govia was on his debut.He followed Somerset’s triumph on the internet and is looking forward to reclaiming his place if he is available next year.“That day I had a game or practice and when I got home and went online and saw the score I couldn’t believe it at first,” he recalled. “I was really excited for them, so proud of them, and I had to hold back the emotions because no one else out there understood what I was feeling.“Hopefully I will be here next season, but I don’t know what the future brings, to be honest. If I get another (overseas) opportunity I’ll grab it with both hands.”