David Payne - Player Blog
20 December 2013
I've been out in Australia nearly three months now and I don't think there's been a day gone past where I haven't woken up thinking 'this is more like it!’
Right now you'll be doing well to get me on the flight home in March judging by the weather you seem to be getting back home again.
I landed in Adelaide early October and, for the first few weeks of the programme, the coaches just eased us in to it. This was a nice surprise as I landed expecting to get run into the ground from day one, as that was the feedback I was given from previous Darren Lehmann Cricket Academy campaigner Liam Norwell (last time I listen to him!). It meant we managed a few early season trips to the beach to get ourselves settled in nicely.
When we first arrived in Adelaide we were greeted by the Papua New Guinea national side. They were here preparing for their World Cup qualifying campaign, which meant we got to play them every Wednesday in some T20's and one-day matches for the first few weeks.
This gave us the chance to get some early game time and get used to the conditions of Australia against a good quality side. They are certainly not a side to underestimate either as they managed to beat us twice... which is a very hard thing to do!!
As the weeks progressed the programme didn't change much, the intensity was simply lifted. A usual week for us on the academy looks like this:
Monday - weights, followed by skills training in the indoor centre
Tuesday - conditioning (usually running), fielding, then outdoor nets
Wednesday - weights followed by competitive nets
Thursday - conditioning (usually running, the snake pit, or boxing), indoor skills training
Friday - Pilates and Cardio
Saturday - Club cricket
Sunday - free day or Club cricket
The academy has taken us on a couple of trips while we have been out here as well.
In mid-November we had a weekend trip to the outback. For those who don't know what the outback is, it is the middle of nowhere - literally! It wasn't a trip I was looking forward to too much, purely because of the warnings I’d had about various snakes and spiders (goes without saying, I’m not a big fan of either).
We were up there for a team building and leadership exercise. The task was to trek roughly 8-10km from where we were staying, with enough supplies of water and food to last the day and night, to where we were sleeping that night. I should mention it was about 35 degrees as well!
Luckily we have a good group of lads at the academy. We simply built a couple of make-shift stretchers to carry the supplies, bit our tongues, and trekked for roughly 8 hours without encountering a problem.
We did come across one snake on the way, but safe to say I was not one of the guys to go and get a closer look at it. The trip could have gone a lot worse, but we were over the moon when it was cut a night short as a reward for our efforts.
Our other trip, which we have only just returned from, was a visit to Melbourne to play a few T20 games against the Melbourne Renegades.
We played two games on Sunday against a strong Renegades side, featuring Aaron Finch, Jos Buttler and our very own “Murali.” Needless to say we won both games - I did say we were a tough side to beat! We lost to them on the Tuesday, but we'd already won the series by then so it wasn't a big loss.
I've got a few more days in Adelaide before we all fly our separate ways for a couple of weeks of well-earned rest over Christmas. I'm heading back to Melbourne to have some more quality catch time with the Glos lads (Denty, Benny, Coey, Maccer and Tav). BBQ on the balcony I believe it is when I arrive.
I'll be sure to think of all of you sat around the fire when I’m on the beach at Christmas!
