A TEENAGE cricket star is targeting a return to the international sports scene with some first-class help from the University of Kent.

Off-spin bowler Jo Watts, 19, who is one of the University’s sports scholars, was a member of the England women’s cricket team who took on Australia last summer and went on tours of Sri Lanka and India before injuries and a bout of glandular fever left her sidelined.

To regain peak fitness her cricket coach recommended she visit the University’s centre for sports studies, at the Medway campus.

Hartley Invicta player Watts, from Loose, Maidstone, a member of the Kent women’s team who won last season’s County Championsip, had an intensive session to test her fitness and begin rehabilitation.

She said: "The staff worked on my muscle strength, my running and my lung capacity. I really felt that I was in the hands of experts - they were even able to assess the power of my bowling arm.

"This is definitely the start of my campaign to get my place back in the England side."

Jane Glew, deputy director for the centre for sports studies, said: "We’ll do all we can to help Jo get back into the England team."