DIRECTOR of cricket Steve Rhodes has praised the “amazingly consistent” performances of Worcestershire wicketkeeper Ben Cox behind the stumps at the age of only 23.

Rhodes admits most keepers are approaching 30 before they demonstrate the level of consistency Cox produced during 2015.

He had an 89 per cent success rate in terms of holding on to chances and was the County’s second highest scorer in the LV= County Championship with more than 700 runs.

Former England keeper Rhodes said: “Ben played really well last summer. His wicketkeeping was amazingly consistent for someone who is 23.

“Generally, as a wicketkeeper you get to 30 or just under and just suddenly there is the ‘light bulb’ moment when things tend to stick with you and suddenly you become more consistent.

“But he is managing to do that, or he did last season, at the age of 23 – and he kept so well all season long.

“That is very young, but having said that he started very young in that game down at Taunton (when he was aged 17 in 2009).

“He has been in and out of the team but for a young guy he is relatively experienced now and that is a good sign for us going forward.

“His batting was good last season in all formats. He played some very important innings but the main part of what he did was consistency with the gloves.

“When bowlers are working their proverbials off to take wickets and find the edge of the bat, you can be content in the knowledge there is a guy behind the wickets who will take the chances.”

Rhodes added: “Did Cox benefit from keeping to Saaed Ajmal? All the bowlers did but, with Saeed’s style of bowling, you can’t fall asleep, which is good.

“If you keep well to him, then he can make you shine.

“But similarly if you are not quite switched on, and you are not keeping well, he can make a fool of you.

“Thankfully for Ben, because he kept well, he made him shine.”

Meanwhile, Rhodes believes Joe Clarke should look to continue to develop and improve his keeping skills in tandem with his batting abilities.

Clarke made a big impact as a middle-order batsman and was voted the club’s young player of the year.

Rhodes feels Clarke, currently part of the England Lions squad in the UAE, should maintain his skills behind the stumps.

He said: “It is a string to Joe’s bow isn’t it? You are silly not to carry on working on those sort of things.

“That is definitely something with all of our players, whatever their skills are, we want to make sure everything is totally up to speed.

“If you are a bowler who doesn’t bat very well, well let’s improve your batting.

“If you are a batter who doesn’t field very well, then you’ve got to work on improving your fielding.

“It’s all part of the game, general improvement of any individual cricketer and if Joe is a wicketkeeper, then we are certainly not going to neglect it and will keep it going.”