Northamptonshire’s professional playing squad will head out on two separate, focused training camps at the end of February as the group ramp up pre season preparations.
While the last few seasons have seen the squad travel as one group, this year Northamptonshire’s batters head to India under the guidance of Batting Coach Greg Smith, while the bowlers will travel to South Africa to make use of some warmer weather.
The training camps will allow players to work on their individual skills in a more specialised, high intensity environment and Head Coach John Sadler thinks that the time away will only aid the players preparations.
“The players are excited about getting some serious volume in, and the bowlers obviously getting out to warmer climates is always an easy sell.
“It will be specific training, the players will get exactly what they each need which is what we want, and then we will come back and regroup as one by mid-March.”
Having already been to India as part of his winter preparations, Lewis McManus was excited to go back at the end of this month.
“It’s the perfect place to get that volume that we need. I don’t think there are many places in the world that you can do that, the facilities are great and wickets are good so hopefully we can really tap into that as a group.”
McManus also thinks that the time in India will be a good opportunity for the batters to strengthen their bonds as a collective.
“I think as a batting group it is important that we go away, work hard together and spend time learning about each others games and how we can work together as a unit throughout the season.
“Having that shared goal and togetherness is crucial, having a lot of time together out practicing in Mumbai is something that needs to happen so that we give ourselves the best chance of succeeding and getting back into Division One.”
As one of the senior figures in the bowling attack, Ben Sanderson believed that the trip to South Africa will be a good opportunity for the bowlers to learn and work together.
“I’m really looking forward to getting out there with the other bowlers, it’s a great chance to get outside on grass and get some valuable overs under the belt in some warm weather.” Sanderson said.
Many players in the bowling group have been playing overseas during the winter but Sanderson is sure that everyone is ready to utilise this extra time away to be prepared for the start of the season.
“It’s a great opportunity to get all the bowlers back together after the winter and it’ll give us all a chance to reconnect as a bowling group and focus on the upcoming season and our approach to it.
“We’ll be able to get some real focused work on red and white ball skills while we’re out there and work on individual plans and really hone our skills ready to hit the ground running in April.”