The eyes have it at ICC's Winter Training Camp

Players and coaches from the High Performance centre in Pretoria © Touchline

Fitness, cricket skills, psychology and the lifestyle of players have all come under the microscope at the ICC's Winter Training Camp (WTC) in Pretoria, South Africa.

But another area that has been looked at - literally - is the visual skills of the 23 Associate players attending the 11-week residential session.

Vision specialist Sheryl Calder has overseen a series of exercises for those players to enhance an area of their make-ups that is often overlooked but nevertheless absolutely vital to their success as top-class sportsmen.

"Eyes need to be trained in the same way as players' muscles or their cricket skills," said Ms Calder, who has also worked with England's Rugby World Cup-winning line-up of 2003 and the South Africa rugby squad.

"They need to be taught to focus and respond quickly and they also need endurance skills as eyes, like any other part of the body, can fatigue.

There are exercises for eye speed, judgement of depth and to enhance the flexibility and fitness of the eyes, all of them obviously important when trying to focus on a ball travelling towards a player at high speed," she added.

Jim West bowls at the ICC Winter training camp in Pretoria © Touchline

All the players undertook visual tests when they first arrived at the WTC and Ms Calder said the results were below the level she expected.

However, since then the players have worked to improve their visual skills for one or two afternoons every week in an "eye gym" and the results have been positive.

"The players have trained on a regular basis and although they have not been formally reassessed since the start of the camp there has been an improvement in the speed and flexibility of their eye work," said Ms Calder.

WTC Head Coach Andy Moles explained the idea behind getting Sheryl and her team to work with the players from Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands and Scotland.

"To the lay person, you go to the optician, read a chart with some letters and numbers on it and you are told you can see perfectly well but that is not what Sheryl is about," he said.

"She sets out to train the eye muscles to make sure vision is more focussed and stronger. She has got a host of different drills and it is interesting and fascinating.

"Sheryl is a leader in the field and it is fantastic and a privilege to have her work with us.

"One or two players have never been exposed to anything like this before and, perhaps naturally, they have been a little bit apprehensive and sceptical.

"I said to them we have worked on fitness, batting, bowling and fielding skills and psychology and now we have worked on vision too.

"If those players can improve just a little bit in each area then, when it is all put together, it can combine to have a huge impact on their games.

Ross Lyons and Kenny Carroll hone their skills in Pretoria © Touchline

"Even if it improves players' vision skills by a few percent and that, in turn, allows them to pick the ball up earlier when it is bowled or in the field then that has to be good," he added.

ICC High Performance Manager Richard Done commented: "The area is underrated by many in cricket yet it is potentially one of the most important areas of sports science for batsmen and fielders and we are fortunate to have someone of Sheryl's experience to work with us."

For Canada all-rounder John Davison, attending the WTC in a coaching capacity, the eye work has been a fascinating experience.

"It has been a real eye-opener for the players and coaching staff - literally," he said.

"For someone like myself who has been told he has 20/20 vision to then undergo these tests and find out there are things I can and need to work on like depth perception and how fast the eye focuses is enlightening.

"It just goes to show there is more to improving in this game than just going to the nets," he added.

Like many of the aspects of the WTC, what happens after the camp finishes is almost as important as what has taken place since it started in mid-October as, if players do not maintain the eye work, then any benefits they gain now will be short-term.

"I worked with the non-Test playing countries in the build up to the 2003 Cricket World Cup and we are currently discussing whether we can get a programme together on an ongoing basis," said Ms Calder. "The idea is to carry on the visual work started here."

One option to do that is a website Ms Calder is developing and that option got a thumbs-up from Davison.

"In the past it might have been hard to judge whether or not you are improving but Sheryl has shown us her website and that gives you an indication of the level at which you are at," he said.

"You perform tasks on the website but you have to complete them before you can move onto the next level so you know if you are progressing.

"If it is good enough for top internationals in a host of other ball sports then it certainly has to be good enough for cricketers from Associate countries.

"Hopefully it will be part of the complete package at the WTC that will make everyone that has attended better players," he added.

Bermuda - Jekon Edness, Jim West, Stephen Outerbridge & Azeem Pitcher

Canada - Qaiser Ali, Umar Bhatti, Kenneth Carto & Henry Osinde (plus John Davison, who is filling a coaching role)

Ireland - Trevor Britton, Kenneth Carroll & Eoin Morgan

Kenya - Nehemiah Ngoche, Alfred Luseno & Kalpesh Patel

Netherlands - Tom de Grooth

Scotland - Richard Berrington, Kasim Farid, Gordon Goudie, Ross Lyons, Dewald Nel, Qasim Sheikh, Fraser Watts & Sean Weeraratna