Camp Sunday: Hot Sun, Cool Pool

Mon, Dec 13, '04

 

from MICHELLE McDONALD in Barbados

Have you been looking out all day for Sunday's camp diary report? Sorry to disappoint you, but at about 1:30 p.m, Bennett King said to me "you can go home now. I've given you the afternoon off" and you'd be silly to spend another glorious Barbados weather day plunking out words on a computer.

Now, would the players be as fortunate as I was, to be given an afternoon off? Read on and see...

I got to the ground at 10:50 Sunday morning. (Do I hear applause for the 'early' start?) When I tell you the sun hot, believe me.

There were four groups operating.

Group One: I counted 11 players on the field in a batting simulation-type exercise. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ryan Hinds were the batsmen. Ian Bradshaw, Deighton Butler and Darren Sammy were the bowlers. Dinesh Ramdin was the wicket-keeper and the others were fielding.

Group Two: Led by Darren Holder, this group concentrated on fielding and hitting the stumps, and involved six cricketers. Holder stood at one stump and threw the ball. The closest person ran, picked it up and threw at the stumps. I daresay their accuracy must improve if we are to become the best fielding side in the world. (If you recall, King says we can be.)

Group Three: Location ? the indoor nets. In the shade. The lucky four here were Courtney Browne, Mervyn Dillon, Runako Morton and Corey Collymore. The 'UFO' bowling machines were in use here.

Group Four: My eyes found Sir Garfield Sobers overseeing a net session outdoors with Chris Gayle and Narsingh Deonarine bowling to Brian Lara. The great all-rounder, now Technical Consultant to the West Indies team, was giving the world record holder some batting tips and they consulted frequently.

If you're counting, you'll realize that one person was missing. I did not see Dwayne Bravo today.

Being a part of this camp is like being at a circuit training session in the gym ? constant movement from one area to the next with no rest in between. And rest times were determined by the Head Coach...mostly. (After all, he can't be in four places at once, can he?)

I put on my educator's hat for a moment to rationalize why when a player finished one session, his request to change his shoes before going to another grouping was denied. I came up with this explanation.

It has been proven that the more a training scenario resembles the real life situation that the trainee will face, the better the transfer and application of learning. In a cricket match, if you're the fielding team, there is no sitting down, no rest for a few minutes here, a few minutes there. The only time you get a little respite from the physical demands of the game is at lunch time.

And so it was Sunday. Lunch time came at 12:20 for those in the nets, and 12:30 for the others. From as early as noon there was glee on the faces of all, in anticipation of a well deserved break. Many of the players changed their shirts, putting the wet ones on the railing or on the grass to dry out while they fed and watered themselves.

On the menu was some form of pork, another meat (was it beef? I think so), peas and rice and vegetables.

After lunch, some of the young fellows were asked to clear the field of empty water bottles, balls, and stumps. The stumps made their way back out there to participate in the video taping of Ian Bradshaw's bowling by Darren Holder. Bradshaw had rejoined the camp on Friday after being sidelined by a viral infection.

Coach King had a meeting with all the guys to let them know what was happening in the post-lunch session. Guess what guys? You have the afternoon off too (sort of). Time in the hotel's swimming pool (aaah, cool water) followed by rest then a classroom session at 5:00 p.m was on the agenda for the rest of today's activities.

"We have a half day today" many of them said joyfully to me as they headed to the team bus. Only two days to go. The end is in sight. For the lucky 14, all this hard work certainly would not have been in vain.

Who shall be the ones to reap the rewards of their labour?

Click here for Michelle McDonald's training camp photo album.