ESSEX star Tom Westley believes spending the winter playing in Sri Lanka will help him to shine again this season.

The 26-year-old was named the club’s player of the year for 2014 after impressing in all formats of the game.

And Westley is hopeful his spell in Sri Lanka will enable to him to do the same this term.

“I was based in Sri Lanka for four months playing matches and I believe I’m a better player for it,” said Westley.

“I was away with the England Performance Programme and it was an experience which was quite challenging at times because there isn’t the type of structure that there is in England.

“But there are things I can learn from and I think it will certainly put me in good stead for the future.”

Westley played for Bloomfield while in Colombo and now aims to put what he has learnt into good use when Essex start the new season next season.

However, Westley also knows he must be able to deal with the added expectations, especially with a number of key players missing the club’s first few games.

“There’s probably more pressure on me to do well this season,” said Westley.

“There’s also a few familiar faces that aren’t here at the moment like Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara and Ryan ten Doeschare and it will be the same for the start of the season so there’s more pressure on a few us to score runs but it’s something we look forward to.”

Westley can also not wait for the season to get going.

And his main aim is to impress on a consistent basis.

“I try not to set myself targets in terms of runs scored or wickets taken and for me it’s just about being as consistent as I can,” said Westley.

“Last year I put in a few match winning performances in one day cricket and now I want to continue that while also doing the same in the four day format.

“The more of them I put in then the better player I will become and the more I can help the team too.”

An in-form Westley would certainly boost Essex’s chances of success.

And he feels certain the team will able to build on the promise they showed last year.

“Last year showed how good we can be across the board because we finished third in the County Championship and got to two quarter finals in one day competitions,” said Westley.

“There’s an emphasis put on Twenty20 cricket this season as well as the County Championships but we’re not too far away from competing across all formats and maybe winning one or two of them too.”