SOMERSET'S Jack Leach says he is 'living the dream' after spending the last three months as a full time professional cricketer.

The 22-year-old has spent the first part of the winter training hard in the Centre of Excellence at the County Ground in preparation for the 2014 season.

Leach said: “My first winter with Somerset as a full time professional has been pretty awesome to be honest and sometimes I still can't quite believe it's happening to me.

“I had three years at university and then last year I was in Australia so this is the first time I have been here all the time and I'm just loving it.

“I have spent the last six weeks with the boys training in the gym trying to get myself as fit and strong as I can be and I have also been working hard on my bowling, as well as doing stuff on my own.

Leach, who grew up not much more than a six hit from the County Ground and attended Trinity Primary School and Bishop Fox's before moving onto Richard Huish, added: “I have been making sure that my action is in the best possible place come the start of this coming season by doing lots of drills and looking at ways to get more spin.

It has all been going pretty well up to now and I'm feeling pretty confident.

“I saw Peter Such a couple of times before he went away to Australia with the England Performance Programme and we have working on the things that he suggested to me.

“I really appreciated what he did for me because he is another mind to tap into and it was good to get my foot into the door up at Loughborough.”

He added: “We have got a couple of weeks off which I will spend with my family and friends having a chilled time because it's good to have a mental break.

“We come back in early January ready to go again and soon after we have got the trip to South Africa.

“It will be good to get some sun, especially after being out in Australia last winter, so I am really looking forward to going to South Africa. I have never been there before so it will be good to see that country.

“We then come back and I am dreading how cold it might be when we return. I know last season when I returned from Australia it was snowing, but we will then be into pre-season so I am already looking forward to the 2014 season.”