England start the long haul with fitness trip (3 Nov 1997)

3 November 1997

England start the long haul with fitness trip

Christopher Martin-Jenkins

THREE England cricket teams, plus 12 coaches, manager and medical staff, fly off from Gatwick this morning, fog permitting, to the rather unlikely venue of Lanzarote, the barren but popular island in the Canaries. This initial preparation for the various challenges of the winter, a week of hard physical training, is only part of a varied programme, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins.

The Conservative Party might call it a bonding exercise, but it is intended to be rather more than that, as the presence of a specialist sports psychologist suggests. Dr Stephen Bull will use the week to get to know as many of the cricketers as he can and to help anyone who needs it with the mental aspects of the game.

If nothing else the fact that the senior England side to the West Indies are to be accompanied this week by the A team, who will be touring Kenya and Sri Lanka, and the one-day side going to the pre-Christmas tournament in Sharjah, will give all 45 players involved a sense of being part of the same enterprise.

The only missing player is Owais Shah, the 19-year-old Middlesex batsman, who will be joining the A tour after England's participation in the Youth World Cup in South Africa. He is still involved with his studies.

There will be league tables for the competitive fitness programmes which all three teams will enjoy, or suffer, before they return home a week today. The itinerary has been planned with meticulous care by the England physiotherapist, Wayne Morton, and the team's fitness expert, Dean Riddle.

Mike Atherton and David Lloyd, captain and coach in the West Indies, both watched the under-19 side practising last week, stressing the direct link between representing the country at a junior level and doing so in the full heat of a genuine Test match in the Caribbean. The preparations for that will continue for Atherton's team with net sessions indoors at Old Trafford before departure in early January to Antigua for 10 days of work on the technical aspects of the game.

Adam Hollioake's side of one-day specialists also have a preparatory period in Lahore before the quadrangular tournament in Sharjah in December.

By then every one of the players will have had a personal video, showing strengths and weaknesses, prepared for his own motivation and self-analysis by one of the England Cricket Board's most recent recruits, Nick Slade.

Those responsible for the optimistic army of England cricketers leaving London this morning seem to have left few stones unturned.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)