Scarborough is an easy Pick for James

At the age of 16 he should feature for Yorkshire Schools cricket and enjoy a future in the Yorkshire batting line-up.

But instead he has become one of Scarborough Cricket Club’s main stars after focussing on piling on the runs at North Marine Road.

Speaking before Scarborough’s 41-run win over Stamford Bridge at the weekend Pick cited the pressure and style of coaching as the reasons behind his decision to stick to club cricket.

He said: “The coaches are there just to grind out results.

“No-one will ever say to you ‘unlucky, there’s always next week’.

“You can never relax because there’s so much pressure on you to perform consistently.”

“It takes the enjoyment out of the game.

“You’d always feel like your head’s on the chopping block if you don’t score runs.”

After representing the North of England at the annual Bunbury Festival in 2014 he seemed to be making great strides towards a playing career in professional cricket.

But Pick decided to concentrate on club cricket at Scarborough.

Pick added: “The pressure and the way that players are handled are major reasons why people leave.

“Nothing against the coaches but they are there for results and that has an effect on players.

“Most of the time it is the players, I’ll admit that but sometimes they have to hold their hands up and say ‘yeah, I messed up here’.

“It will ruin a lot of people’s careers if it doesn’t change.”

Pick has also had to battle back problems after picking up an injury last year, he hasn’t managed to fully shake it off.

He added: “My back injury has certainly taken my enjoyment out of the game, but the month or so at the start of the season where i was injury-free I absolutely loved my cricket.

“It’ll always put your body under stress playing five or six days a week.

“So I think I did need some rest periods.”

Pick has been quick to praise the atmosphere in the Scarborough dressing room since skipper Neil Elvidge took over at the start of the campaign.

He added: “It’s more of a club atmosphere. It’s turned away from the cliques of the first team and everyone from the juniors and thirds up to the first team knows each other.

“There’s no difference between who mingles at club events like before. Everyone seems to be integrated into the club now.”