JOE Clarke is aiming to make big runs this winter in Australia and for the Worcestershire second eleven next summer to enhance his chances of pushing for a first team spot.

The England Under 19 wicketkeeper-batsman finished as the seconds leading scorer in three and four-day cricket with 735 runs at an average of 66.82.

This tally included 222 against MCC Young Cricketers — the highest score by a Worcestershire player in the Second Eleven Championship.

But Clarke, who is playing for South Perth this winter, feels he should have built on several other promising starts and scored more heavily.

He said: “With the England Under 19 programme in the winter, I worked really hard on that and gained some rewards this summer for the second eleven for the hard work in the winter.

“But I still want to improve the scores I’ve made and hopefully I can work on the areas I need to improve on this winter and then come back and score more runs next summer.

“I had a lot of 30s and 40s last summer when I should have kicked on and got big scores.

“There are things to learn from that but that’s a good thing because you can see what you are doing, that you need to go on and get bigger runs. That’s what gets you in the first team and that’s what I need to do.”