2010-11 Ashes Betting / Frank Gregan / 26 September 2010 /

Frank Gregan speculates as to what the England cricket team may have got up to on their mystery team-bonding session in preparation for this winter's Ashes.

It's been a difficult summer for the English cricket team. Their season came to an end with their 3-2 One Day Series win against the Pakistanis last Wednesday at Southampton and immediately the focus switched to the Ashes. The players could probably do with a rest but the management team jetted them off in the early hours of Friday morning to a secret destination for a 'team bonding' session.

There is a place for bonding sessions in professional sport but it's generally accepted that it's when a team is first put together. It's a way of getting to know each other and having some fun. Invariably, some 'relaxation' time is allowed when the amber nectar is consumed when the thin dividing line between relaxed and collapsed has to be negotiated. Booze-fuelled arguments do nothing for team morale!

The content of bonding sessions has got fancier over the years. In the early days it was ten pin bowling and go-karting. It then moved on to command tasks and paint-balling (how can an activity where you are encouraged to shoot a mate in the back be considered conducive to comradeship?) and now we have murder mystery weekends and medieval jousting!

It looks as if this will be the first of many. A spokesman for the ECB said "we are having a number of team get-togethers before departing for the Ashes but we are not going to divulge dates, times, places or format." The need for privacy is understandable but they seem to have gone a bit over the top with the cloak and dagger stuff.

The 16 strong Ashes squad has been named and the only two places that were in doubt (the final pace bowler and the second spinner slots) went to Chris Tremlett and Monty Panesar respectively. The squad has been announced early because the last time that England went Down Under to defend the Ashes they were undercooked and fingers were pointed at the management and selectors for cutting corners with the team's preparation.

Those accusation can't be levelled this time around. As well as the bonding sessions, the departure date has been brought forward which will mean that the touring party will arrive in Australia on 29 October, three weeks and six days before the first Test gets underway in Brisbane on the 25th November.

The selectors have also made sure that there will be enough bodies in theatre. A 16 strong Performance squad is being sent to Australia and indeed will be on site during the Brisbane and Perth tests meaning that effectively England will have a 32 man squad at their disposal. There is some real talent waiting in the wings in that Performance squad with the likes of Ravi Bopara, Craig Kieswetter and Liam Plunkett all disappointed not to be in the main party but nonetheless around to be called upon if necessary.

Whilst England are preparing for the Ashes by ferrying rations from one river bank to the other side using only a rope, a plank and some double sided tape (a typical command task!) Australia are about to embark on a two Test Series in India which gets underway on Friday with the first Test being played at PCA Stadium, Mohali. India are [3.55] with the Aussies at [3.65] and the draw at [2.2]. It's very difficult to see any one of these teams being good enough to bowl the other out cheaply on a slow track and providing there's not an unexpected batting collapse a draw seems highly likely.

As for England, they'll be back from their bonding trip but you have to wonder what they will have learned about themselves. Most management experts agree, the best way for any unit to bond is to stand shoulder to shoulder in the face of adversity. The English cricket team have done more than their fair share of that these last few weeks and will have learned a lot about themselves. Certainly more than they will from trying to work out if it was Colonel Mustard with a piece of lead piping!

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