TEN budding cricket stars were yesterday treated to a few words of wisdom from former West Indies batsman Alvin Kallicharran.

Now a marketing man for Costcutter, Kallicharran was at Durham's Riverside headquarters to help the supermarket group launch their sponsorship of the Durham Academy.

"Hard work and discipline are the keys to success," he said. "You have to have your own in-built discipline before you encourage sponsors to help you.

"You also have to have a hunger for success and a willingness to fit in with the rest of the team. I played in a team with a lot of great players like Holding and Roberts, Greenidge and Haynes, but the key was that we played as a team.

"When we had team meetings if anybody strayed out of line he was always told he was only one person and there were 11 of us walking out there to win for the West Indies."

At a time when sports stars' personal and professional conduct is under the spotlight, Durham held a talk-in involving the academy boys and Costcutter officials to ensure the future stars would know what is required from them.

Costcutter, who sponsored the Under 15 World Cricket Challenge in 2000, are branching out in the North-East after starting with seven stores in Yorkshire and expanding to 1,240 nationwide.

They are based at Dunnington, near York, where Kallicharran, now 52, plays for the village team, along with another former West Indies star, Collis King, and ex-Yorkshire batsman Simon Kellett.

"The chairman of Costcutter is also the chairman of the cricket club, so I have to play," joked Kallicharran, who scored 99 for Warwickshire with a broken thumb in a NatWest Trophy tie against Durham in their Minor Counties days.

"I scored a few runs last season and I still enjoy it. I don't know how long I'll continue, I just take it year by year.

"This is my first visit to Durham. I have seen it on television and it always looks very impressive. Now that the ground has Test status it is very encouraging for this part of the world. These boys are coming into it at the right time and they have a wonderful opportunity."

Of the ten boys present, aged 14-18, six are new to the academy. Two of the older ones are playing abroad, while Gary Scott, who made his first team debut aged 16 last season, is recovering from a shoulder operation.

Costcutter are putting in £100,000 over three years and the club hope it will help them to enrol players as young as ten and 11.

Director of Cricket, Geoff Cook, said: "The partnership with Costcutter will benefit the Academy enormously. The youngest county group we have is under 11, and the more we can organise and develop them in a constructive way the better it will be in the long-term."

Ian Bishop, Costcutter's projects marketing manager, said: "The whole team at Durham impressed us to such an extent with their positive, professional attitude towards youth development that we decided it made great commercial sense to be involved with such a progressive club."

And what did the boys make of it? Liam Plunkett, a 16-year-old seam bowling all-rounder from Middlesbrough, said: "Something like this makes you feel more professional. I love being in the Academy and I can see the benefits to my batting and bowling when I watch the videos of myself.

"I want to break into the first team and would love to play for England. This has inspired me even more."