Australia set for training camp in August

Australia's new coach, Tim Nielsen, has outlined his plans for a pre-season bonding trip before next summer. Although the controversial military-style boot camp that Australia tried out last year has been put on the backburner, Nielsen hopes a four-day gathering in August will focus the team ahead of a hectic 18 months.

Cricket Australia's 25-man squad will meet on Queensland's Sunshine Coast in August, where the players will be put through physical fitness work and Nielsen will outline his goals. It will be his first chance to address the whole group since taking over from John Buchanan after the team's World Cup triumph.

"It will be a different set-up, a chance just to get everyone back together in that we have had a long break from play," Nielsen told the Herald Sun. "We will try and get our thoughts focused on where we are going to go over the next little while."

Nielsen's first competitive engagement as the coach will be the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in September. That starts a frantic period for Australia, who host Sri Lanka and India this summer and are expected to play 20 Tests in 2008.