By Ali Martin/Theguardian.com
England’s cricketers are due to arrive back home from their training camp in Spain following four days in which they have become acquainted with their new head coach, Trevor Bayliss, as they prepare for next week’s first Ashes Test. Golf, cycling and team meetings have been combined with fielding drills and fitness work.
While previous incarnations of the boot camp have involved the squad trekking through Bavarian forests holding bricks in both hands or tracking pretend criminals in the Staffordshire countryside, this year’s pre-series away trip was always intended to be a more relaxed affair.
The first pictures to emerge from the four-day camp at the Desert Springs resort near Almería, which was organised by a tour company, Sport Arabia Worldwide, show the team being worked hard by Bayliss and his coaching staff on the football pitches that adjoin the complex.
But they have also enjoyed a round of golf with their new coach, held a social night and taken mountain bikes out for a 14km round- trip to the local beach along private tracks from the hotel. With the new coach only arriving from Australia last Thursday, the director of England cricket, Andrew Strauss, deemed the trip to be essential in Bayliss forging bonds with his new charges before the series opener begins in Cardiff on 8 July.
England will announce their squad for the first Test today, when the 52-year-old Bayliss is expected to speak for the first time in his new role.
England coach Trevor Bayliss.
