COLCHESTER’S Ben Stephens admits he is ‘pinching himself’ after linking up with England captain Joe Root to launch an innovative new cricket academy.

The long-serving Colchester and East Essex Cricket Club bowler has been named Executive Director of The Root Academy and will oversee all coaching at the camp’s base in Almeria, Spain along with the brand launch of R66T clothing and merchandise.

Stephens, who lives in Mile End, has a long association with the Root family, after first meeting Joe Root’s father Matt on an overseas MCC cricket tour.

Now he been tasked with heading up and running the academy from its infancy and linking up with prolific England batsman Joe, his brother Billy Root and their father Matt, who has founded the venture.

Stephens told the Daily Gazette: “I’m still pinching myself!

“It’s been in the pipeline for about six months or so but we’ve been letting Joe get on with what he does best and that’s scoring runs and captaining England.

“Matt has kept the information back from him a bit but he knew what was going on in the background.

“I was with Joe a couple of weeks ago - I think Joe was blown away with what we told him and what we’re planning to achieve with the Academy.

“We have a WhatsApp group going now and it’s quite surreal hearing back from Joe and having his input, which has been really good so far.

“They’ve given me free reign with it – they’ve come up with some great ideas and it’s very exciting.”

The Root Academy is made up of a series of UK and overseas cricket camps designed to provide high quality and enjoyable coaching for budding cricketers aged between five and 18 years old.

It will provide regular online coaching tips from experienced players and coaches and video skills sessions, with training aims provided online.

“Joe wants the kids to enjoy themselves,” said Stephens, who will continue to oversee his successful PiriPiri Cricket coaching camps.

“Cricket can be quite a hard sport but what we want to do is drag it back to how Joe learnt to play with his dad and that’s true to me, too.

“Anyone who’s been in the cricket world knows the background being in the nets or on the outfield and it’s about how you engage with people.

“What we want to achieve initially is something simple and then advance it.

“It’s conceivable that we could have a kid in the academy who in eight or nine years’ time could end up playing alongside Joe in the England team, which would be amazing.

“If Joe can play until he’s say 34, it’s certainly achievable and he wants to make a difference now.”

More details on the Root Academy UK camps and their locations will be released on April 1.

However, anyone interested in taking part in the Root Academy can now register their interest online at www.therootacademy.co.uk/uk-camps