January can be one of the tougher months.

Lighter in the pocket, but heavier on the scales after the Christmas and new year festivities, spring can seem a long way off for many.

One man who could be forgiven if he is counting down the days just to next month is Tim Hancock, Gloucestershire’s head of talent pathway.

That’s because the one-time Gloucestershire cricketer is heading off to Sri Lanka on 6th February on a 12-day tour with some of the best young cricketers on the county’s books.

He is taking a 15-strong squad of under-18 boys and he will be joined by GCB women and girls’ officer Lisa Pagett, who will be in charge of a squad of 14 under-17 girls.

And while it will be nice for Hancock to swap the wind and rain in England for the sun and blue skies in Sri Lanka, there won’t be too much time for sunbathing as he looks to develop the next generation of Gloucestershire’s cricketers.

“We went to Sri Lanka a couple of years ago,” said Hancock. “It was a great experience. It’s a very demanding tour because of the climate – it’s not just the heat, it’s the humidity as well.

“It will be a challenge for the players both physically and mentally.”

And testing the players to see how they react in different situations is all part of the learning curve of course.

“I think these tours are great,” said Hancock. “They will be experiencing a different cricketing culture and it’s a great opportunity for these young players.

“For many of them they will be away from their parents for an extended period for the first time and you will see some of them grow quite a lot.

“Even when we play county age group cricket in England, you tend to become familiar with some of the people you play against.

“That’s not the case when you go away. The players will all be new and the Sri Lankans will come at us quite hard, especially the batters.”

For many of the players a tour like this will be as good as it gets on their cricketing journey.

“The reality is that not many will be county cricketers,” admitted Hancock, “but we want to teach them the right things about the game of cricket.

“Whatever happens we want to them to stay involved. They are the bedrock of the game in future – the players and the coaches who will keep the club game going into the next generation.”

And although there are no guarantees, at this stage of their development there is still everything to play for.

“We’re trying to instil self-belief into the players,” Hancock explained. “They’ve all got talent otherwise they wouldn’t be with us, but it’s those who have got the self-belief and desire to be the best they can that defines who’ll make it.”

Hancock is encouraged by some of the players who are coming through the system at Gloucestershire.

“George Drissell made his county championship debut last season and we’ve got a really promising group coming through,” Hancock said.

“We’ve got some quite big, tall, physical seamers, a couple of really good batters and an all-rounder. It will be interesting to see how they develop in the next two or three years.”