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The past week has been one of physical, mental and general preparation for members of the West Indies squad who leave for a tour of Australia on Tuesday.

Gathered at a one-week camp in Jamaica, the 16 cricketers have been put through a rigorous programme, starting at 6 a.m. daily with fitness training at Sabina Park and finishing around 9 p.m. with a series of dinner seminars addressing various topics, including mental toughness and media relations.

Of course, there have been lengthy practice sessions - in both bowling and batting - with the expertise of two of the best which the West Indies has ever produced in these areas: Gordon Greenidge and Andy Roberts.

In addition, fielding specialist Julien Fountain was again called upon to sharpen the players’ skills in the outfield.

There have also been video review sessions each afternoon as well as special meetings for batsmen and bowlers to discuss and analyse different aspects of their specialties.

The introduction of a fitness test, designed to determine each player’s level of fitness in various areas, is a very important development.

For the first time, players are being required to reach certain minimum standards and their progress is being monitored and documented by the team’s sports therapist, Ronald Rogers.

He said that, given the demands of their particular discipline, fast bowlers must complete the different components of the test in a quicker time than their team-mates.

Speed, muscular endurance, flexibility, upper and lower body strength and agility are some of the areas being tested while checks are being kept on each player’s weight and body fat percentage to determine if he is gaining or losing weight and if the weight being lost or gained is fat or muscle. This emphasis on fitness will continue on tour with periodic testing.

"I think it’s an excellent way of being able to monitor the fitness levels of individuals in the team and being able to draw any changes to their attention and make the necessary adjustments in their programmes."

"Each player will have a special fitness programme to address their specific needs," said Rogers.

In accordance with the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) campaign to rid the sport of match-fixing, every member of the West Indies squad to Australia has completed, signed and returned a declaration form to team manager, Ricky Skerritt.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is committed to ensuring cricket is played in a clean, wholesome spirit and as such sees the declaration as a supplement to a player’s contract with the board.

The declaration requires all players to indicate, in the interest of protecting the good name of cricket, whether they have been approached to be involved in cricket corruption in any form. Five questions follow to which players must answer yes or no. If a “yes” is given to any of the questions, players will be asked to provide full details to the head of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit.

The document warns of the liability of players to be disciplined if they are found to have lied on the form.

Finally, the declaration asks players to pledge to not be involved in any of the misconduct described in the five preceding questions and to inform the WICB or other relevant authorities immediately if they are approached in the future to be involved in cricket corruption.

© The Barbados Nation