British Airways to strike from the 21st December until the 2nd January. . .

As news of the impending BA strikes broke during our first training session
at the Vengasarkar Academy on Tuesday afternoon, the phone calls started flooding
in from home! Nigel and I broke the news to the girls later that evening. The
news was met with mild panic from some, the worry of missing out on cricket
by others and pure calmness by myself and Nige!

Unfortunately, the BA strikes have dominated conversation for much of the last
three days since my last blog. Now that it seams we are in the clear we have
moved onto more immediate worries as to which colour shirt Louise will buy Nigel
for his make over. He is loving the attention!!

Strikes and make overs aside, we have had three hard days of training. Having
moved from the exceptional Poona Cub due to the 4 day Ranji Trophy between home
state side, Mahashtra and Borada we had some early starts to get across town
to the new Vengasarkar Academy. The car journey in itself was an eye opener
for the girls. Its clear that much of Pune is either half knocked down or half
built! The clubhouse facilities in the Vengasarkar Academy definitely lie in
the half built category! The traditional toileting facilities were not high
on the list of the girls favorite experiences of the trip! The ground however,
was excellent. They had prepared two grass wickets and supplied us with a multitude
of Academy bowlers, the majority of whom were spinners (although there may have
been a citing or two for chucking!!)

Nigel and myself have now put in place, throwing, bowling and catching drills
which the girls have been undertaking before official training has started.
They have worked extremely hard on the basics of these three areas and we are
seeing huge improvements by all.

Over the last three days of training we have been increasing the length of net
time until at which point we progressed to two sessions of 40minutes in pairs,
running three runs every four balls! When we get back to training at the Poona
Club on Saturday the aim will be to bat the girls for up to an hour and half.
Temperatures are in the early thirtys and the girls are really starting to appreciate
how much fitness and concentration levels effect their games.

We have been working hard on our running and strength and conditioning excesses
and thanks to Shauna, by request, we have been doing planks and squats for every
dropped catch!! Six packs are coming along nicely, and unsurprisingly fewer
catches are going down!

We have covered a huge amount of video analysis since being at the Vengasarkar
Academy and the girls really seem to be bringing the feedback from these to
the following days session. In such an intensive training setup it is clear
how beneficial the video coaching aid is. As we head home next week I would
hope this is something we can all encourage in all our various clubs, provincial
and international setups.

Aside from cricket we have managed to sneak in a trip to MG Road; the Grafton
Street of Pune! The girls have been picking up bits and pieces to bring home
and its been good to break the routine. They've also now seen first hand the
poverty and begging which comes with this country. Its an eye opener to say
the least.

Still . . . Nigel did ask me the other day where in the world Id rather be.
After careful consideration I promptly replied, he is just fine thanks!

We are on a well earned rest day tomorrow and then back to the Poona club to
up the tempo again. Will let you know how it goes in a day or two.