MATT Hunn has more reason than most to look forward to the forthcoming season.

The 18-year-old’s 2012 season was cut short just days after he took seven wickets in the Minor Counties Championship match against Cambridgeshire at Wisbech in late July.

Hunn, who had already played for Essex 2nd XI was hoping to get some games with Warwickshire 2nd XI, before spending six months in Australia playing club cricket in Perth.

But the former St Joseph’s College student, who has become a key figure in Suffolk’s bowling attack since making his debut in 2011, was struck down by glandular fever and did not play again last season.

Hunn, who this season will play for Bury St Edmunds in the Gibbs Denley East Anglian Premier League after switching from Sudbury, said: “I was hoping to come back at the end of last season, but I did not fully recover until the start of October.

“I was really looking forward to going to Australia, but I decided to stay here and work on improving my action and getting fitter and stronger.

“Australia and New Zealand will still be there in a couple of years’ time and maybe I will go then.”

Inbetween that match against Cambridgeshire and falling ill, Hunn was one of three young bowlers from around the country selected to go to Warwickshire for a trial, and impressed bowling coach Graeme Welch sufficiently to be invited to return for winter training.

Following his recovery from illness Hunn has been to Edgbaston a total of eight times during the winter, spending three of four hours bowling on each visit.

The 6ft, 5in opening bowler said: “Graeme Welch said he will monitor my progress during the summer with the possibility of playing 2nd XI games and see how I get on and then continue to train at Warwickshire next winter.”

Hunn has decided to make the switch to Bury St Edmunds so that Suffolk coach Bobby Flack, who also coaches at Bury, can keep an eye on him while playing both club and county cricket.

Welch is now Warwickshire’s assistant coach as well as bowling coach following director of cricket Ashley Giles’ elevation to England’s ODI and T20 head coach, and Hunn added: “Bobby and Graeme Welch met on a Level 4 coaching course and have become good friends and keep in close contact, so I thought it would be best to move to Bury St Edmunds to help develop my game more.

“I loved playing for Sudbury – I had two brilliant seasons there and I owe them a lot for giving me the chance to play in the Premier League, which then led to me playing for Suffolk.”

Hunn, who has a strength and conditioning programme to follow, added: “I am a lot stronger now than when I first started playing Minor Counties cricket and looking forward to this season with Suffolk.”