Player blog: Gilmour gets to grips with life at the Darren Lehmann Academy
23 November 2015
Photo: Darren Lehmann Academy team. Brandon (back row, fourth from the right) is joined by Gloucestershire's George Hankins (back row, third from the right) and Australia fast bowler Shaun Tait (back row, far right)
We arrived in Adelaide on October 11 the weather was almost like being back home - overcast with a bit of drizzle!
After 24 hours of flying, the last thing we wanted was to be waiting for four hours to get into our flats but that was the case so we took a walk into town, had some breakfast and got to know everyone a bit better.
Adelaide is a great city. Its small but there’s a lot going on. We are staying close to the centre and so when we have some time off, it’s either a five minute tram or 15 minute walk into town.
The first week of the Darren Lehmann Cricket Academy was an introduction week where we got to know what we should expect throughout the summer. Everyone was very excited to get going.
A normal week consists of skills training and gym on a Monday followed by conditioning and nets on a Tuesday with club training in the evening.
On Wednesday we have a competitive net session against each other, setting up match scenarios to make the training more realistic.
On Thursday we have more conditioning and then an optional net which every player chooses to go to as we are all here to improve, followed by another club session.
Most clubs have a social night after training on Thursdays where you have a meal and the teams get announced. Friday is a recovery day with a gym session and final planning for our games on the weekend. Saturday is game day for the club.
We have also had a trip to the outback for two nights. The first night we all sat around a bonfire and the task was to find out more about each other. It was good as we got to know a lot more about the people we are staying with. Once that was all done, we had our food and then went off to bed which consisted of just a swag (a heavy duty sleeping bag) – no tents.
The next day we were up at 7am, had our breakfast and then sat in a group where we discussed how we want to go about the rest of the summer. After that we got ready for our hike. We left for the walk at 9am and headed for our first check point which seemed a lot further away than we had thought.
Along the way there were a couple of challenges that we had to complete but we didn't have too much trouble with them. We eventually made back to camp after walking for 30km! Safe to say we were exhausted. That night, there was a thunderstorm so there wasn’t much sleeping but altogether it was a great experience.
So far the whole trip has been great and I am looking forward to the rest of the summer in Adelaide.
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