An eventful camp ends

Viewed from any angle, the ten day camp at the MRF Pace Foundation was eventful, to say the least. In many ways, it certainly was different from the routine camps that Dennis Lillee conducts two or three times a year.

First, the presence of Indian bowlers Ajit Agarkar, Venkatesh Prasad, Thiru Kumaran and Debasish Mohanty raised the importance of the camp. All of them have had various problems of late and they took the opportunity to visit the camp, get some valuable tips from Lillee and iron out certain deficiencies, either in their action or in their fitness. According to chief coach at the Foundation TA Sekhar, Agarkar for one benefited a lot from his two days at the camp. He actually felt no back strain while bowling and exercising and perhaps one will see a fitter Agarkar in the future. As for Venkatesh Prasad, Lillee corrected some faults in his action and there is every chance that a more confident Prasad will be seen in action next season. Prasad was at the camp for a week, while Mohanty and Kumaran were at the Foundation for the entire duration of the camp, ironing out various problems with Lillee's help.

But the focus was not just on the Indian bowlers. There were six young bowlers in all from Kenya, Sri Lanka and Australia and Sekhar said the Australian Paul Roffe seems to be an outstanding prospect. Even more significantly, six bowlers from the National Cricket Academy were at the camp and Lillee spent a lot of time with them. According to Sekhar, Lillee was particularly impressed by one of them, Fazal Mohammad. He said the boys were so inspired by Lillee's coaching that they wanted to come to the Foundation every time the former Australian pace bowler makes a visit.

What set apart this training session from the other camps was also the fact that specialised coaches from Australia, all experts in various fields, were at the Foundation for a week. They had come to attend the two day coaches seminar held during the course of the camp and also spent a few days at the Foundation to conduct various tests on the trainees. They included Max Pfitzner (physiotherapist, Australian Cricket Academy), Sandy Gordon (psychologist, Australian Cricket Board), Richard Done (fitness trainer, Queensland Cricket Academy), Troy Coolley (fitness trainer, Australian Cricket Academy) and Marc Portus (bio mechnist, Australian Cricket Board). They evaluated the existing levels of fitness of the trainees and charted out a programme to be followed.

And of course as a bonus, former Australian captain Greg Chappell was a surprise visitor to the camp for a day and spent some time with the boys. His was certainly an inspiring presence and probably one to benefit the most was the latest batsman to wear the India cap, Hemang Badani. The gifted and elegant left hander attended the camp regularly and was an attentive listener when Chappell gave him some valuable tips.