DURHAM cannot claim all the credit for Nicky Peng's recent success with England Under 19s.

In fact, the Northumberland Cricket Board's coaching secretary, Russ Perry, believes Peng owes more to the fact that he was the pilot for an elite squad which has been set up north of the Tyne.

Three of those who swiftly followed him into the Northumberland elite squad four years ago are in the current England Under 17 set-up, and the techniques employed by Perry and his fellow coaches are attracting widespread attention.

Newcastle-born Peng is not 18 until next month and has two more years at under 19 level, yet he scored 89, 50 and 43 in the three one-day internationals against Sri Lanka.

The third match on Monday featured three other Durham players in Gary Pratt, Ian Pattison and Mark Davies, who took three for 32 in the three-wicket win.

The three Northumberland boys who are with England Under 17s are Ashington-born paceman Stephen Boyd, Durham Academy all-rounder Gordon Muchall and leg-spinner Chris Beever.

A member of the England leg-spin academy, Beever became the youngest player to represent the senior Northumberland side this season at 16.

He took 39 league wickets last season for Tynemouth, where Peng also played first team cricket at 15, scoring a century and finishing second in the league averages.

"Nicky was the pilot for our elite squad after his dad arranged for us to take our programme to Newcastle Royal Grammar School," said Perry.

"We have built in a sports science element to which boys of 12 or 13 are far more receptive than older players.

"We are taking very small and talented kids and putting them into the senior game far earlier than usual and finding they are able to excel."

The boys have two-hour sessions of one-to-one coaching, in which they can face up to 400 balls from a bowling machine.

They are all video analysed and their strengths and weaknesses are recorded in a written report. They are also fitness assessed and psychologically profiled by Rebecca Ayton, a sports scientist at the University of Northumbria.

Bowling development relies on radar measurement and video analysis to measure technique and performance.

Perry speaks of another "prodigious talent" in Stuart Tiffin, a batsman from Seahouses, who at the age of 11 was hooking balls delivered at 80mph in the nets last winter.

Peng sprang to national attention when he made 98 on his first-class debut against champions Surrey at the start of this season.

Surrey skipper Adam Hollioake described him as "the best young player I've ever seen," adding that he was most impressed by Peng's temperament.

"We're a fairly intimidating side to play against," said Hollioake. "Most youngsters are either overawed or too cocky. But he was neither and he stayed the same all the way through his innings."

The only fear about Peng, who abandoned his A-level studies at Newcastle RGS at Christmas, is that things might come all too easily for him. Under 19 stars of recent vintage such as Ben Hollioake and Middlesex's Owais Shah are showing little sign of progress in county cricket.

Much was made of Peng being driven to matches in his dad's Bentley, and his work ethic was questioned when he apparently got out carelessly in the second match against Sri Lanka, slogging to mid-wicket straight after reaching his 50.

But he has impressed everyone with his determination to succeed and will have the chance to build bigger innings in the three four-day Tests which are coming up