AFTER helping to usher in a new dawn for English cricket, Huw Bevan is relishing the chance to aid in the development of Newport Gwent Dragons' crop of burgeoning talent.

The day after Alastair Cook & Co sealed their 3-1 Test series win against India at the Oval, strength and conditioning coach Bevan officially took up his new role with the Rodney Parade region.

The 49-year-old has become the Dragons' elite performance manager and he walked through the doors at the new training base in Ystrad Mynach with a spring in his step.

"It was a nice way to finish, especially after the winter we had (when whitewashed by Australia)," said Bevan. "To turn things around and see the young kids with plenty of potential coming into the squad was great."

From Gary Ballance, Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler to Hallam Amos, Jack Dixon and Tyler Morgan; Bevan wants to help the next generation of Dragons to establish themselves.

"I am really excited by the challenge," said the former Bridgend, Cardiff and Swansea hooker. "From being around the group I can see the potential in the region.

"There are some really talented guys in the squad and the future looks quite bright if they can continue to develop and improve.

"That's where my role comes into it – I will be looking to do everything I can to help everybody improve their performance.

"The opportunity to have a wider remit and a greater input, looking to apply my experiences gained through rugby and cricket in terms of high performance."

Bevan won't necessarily be the main with the whistle while players are doing the yo-yo test or lifting weights and it was the opportunity to oversee the whole operation that appealed to the former Ospreys fitness coach.

The state-of-the-art facilities at the £6.8million Caerphilly County Borough Centre for Sporting Excellence also convinced him that the region matched his ambition.

"There will be some hands-on involvement but on the whole I will be standing back a bit and seeing the bigger picture," he said.

"I will be looking at what we are doing currently and devising and implementing strategy to help us improve in the future.

"I want to make sure that every unit within our performance team is operating as well as it can within the resources that we have available.

"I've had some involvement over the summer and have been very impressed by the strength and conditioning work of Ryan Harris and Simon Church. The physio team is first-class and obviously the coaching input of Lyn and Kingsley (Jones, director of rugby and head coach) has been excellent.

"We have high-quality individuals here and what we are trying to do is improve the quality of everybody involved.

"There are lots of positives in the region and we need to try and pull all of it together."