Some of the best young cricketers from Leeds, Leeds Met and Bradford universities and Bradford College kick-off their season with a three-day match against Essex at Chelmsford tomorrow.

Marylebone Cricket Club, which owns Lord’s, fund six university cricket academies – the MCC Universities – in England and Wales to the tune of £500,000 per year.

Leeds, Leeds Met, Bradford and Bradford College together form Leeds/Bradford MCCU, with its elite 19-strong squad coached by Andrew Lawson.

The South African played for Eastern Province and Border in his homeland and coached Holland to their shock victory over England in last year’s World Twenty20 at Lord’s.

Lawson inherited a strong squad from Richard Horner. Kent’s Alex Blake was in the Category C squad of the England Performance Programme, aimed at promising young players, over the winter and Ireland A batsman Chris Dougherty will be another player to watch.

Off-breaking all-rounder James Hawley topped both the batting and bowling averages for Leeds/Bradford in the MCCU Championship in 2010.

He is joined in the slow-bowling department by leg-spinner Tom Craddock, who has been honing his skills at the prestigious Global Cricket School in Mumbai.

The county professionals of Worcestershire and Warwickshire will also play Leeds/Bradford on April 15-17 and May 10-12 respectively.