We are hopeful that the Eastern Canadian T20 championship will be hosted by Cricket Newfoundland and Labrador in 2017. We expect competition for places on the provincial team to be particularly intense this year. Dave Liverman, who will be acting as coach this year has outlined the following schedule and selection process. Members may wish to consider taking part in this process even if they do not anticipate taking part in the provincial team programme. All cricketers of any ability can benefit from this programme- even those who play purely for fun can get more enjoyment and increase performance by practice.

January to March
Main emphasis will be on developing fitness to ensure that fitness testing is not an issue for selection. The objective here is to ensure that by the time outdoors practice starts all players have an adequate level of fitness. If gym time is available, we will work on simple batting, bowling and fielding drills. Fitness testing will likely consist of a timed 5 km run, the standard “beep” test, and sprints. We hope to have some group fitness sessions but players may wish to work on fitness individually. Some training suggestions are provided below, based on running indoors at the Works facility at the university.
5 km run:
Target (ideal): 25 minutes or less; minimum standard: 30 minutes. The outside lane of the track at the Works is just less than 250 m; thus 5 km is 20 laps of the outside lane. If you are not used to running this distance then build up slowly. There are many resources online to help- one of the most popular is the “Couch to 5k” plan, designed for people who are completely inactive. Most players will start at a reasonable level of fitness so may wish to simply try to run an easy 20 laps to gauge their fitness level (the biggest mistake in distance running is to try and run too fast for a first attempt, so pace yourself carefully; if you run at 90 seconds/ lap you will complete 5 km in 30 minutes). If you need to stop and walk, then walk for a lap and then carry on.
Beep test: this is best practiced in a gym, by doing a practice test; Dave can supply the audio track to anyone interested. If you practice this once/ week in combination with other training you will see a rapid improvement. The ideal target would be level 9 or above. A minimum level is level 6.
Sprints: Try repeated 40 m sprints with rests in between. On the Works track sprint the straight at full speed, then walk the bend, then sprint again. Try for 10 repeats.

April
As soon as possible we will start outside work in the nets/ on the tennis courts. There will be no full nets until May (although players are free to arrange these in their own time). Bowlers will work on accuracy drills off short or no runs. Pace bowlers will work on measured repeatable run-ups, spinners on increasing spin.
Batsmen will work mostly with tennis balls and throw-downs only, emphasizing basic technique, and working on new shots – sweep/ reverse sweep, scoops.
Fielding will be with tennis/ soft balls only to start. Likely only possible on tennis courts to start, so work on simple catching drills, one hand one eye drills, basic throwing. Fitness work will continue with practice beep tests.

May:
Fitness testing will take place prior to the start of Ramadan. There will be a transition into some full nets, hard balls for bats and for fielding. Bowlers will be working on accuracy drills from full runs. Fielding exercises will emphasize basics, catching, throwing and agility. All players expecting to be considered for the provincial team will be expected to attain minimum standards for catching and throwing.

June/ July:
Provincial team selection will likely take place in early July, by which time on field performance in the summer league can be factored in. Ideally a trail match will be arranged to allow evaluation in match settings. Objective will be a fielding practice, and a nets practice per week, or split practices. We will try to get centre wicket practice for simulations – set up bowling/ batting exercises.