The new South Africa coach, Eric Simons, was impressed by the condition of his players at the first of two training camps. The session started at Centurion on Wednesday and comes to an end on Friday.

Speaking after a tough three-hour net and fielding session, Simons said: "It is a bit early and difficult to say how the guys are doing, being at high altitude, but all present have shown remarkable strength, which shows that they have been working out very hard during the off season. We will do a few cardio-vascular exercises to up the fitness levels."

He added that the net sessions yesterday and today had helped the players a lot and that Jacques Kallis looked to be in excellent form. For the rest, the afternoon session was a big improvement on the day before.

Mfuneko Ngam was amongst those invited to the training camp. He looked to be making a remarkable recovery and reckons to be about 98% fit. He has been doing some weight training and strengthened his upper body. During the net session on Wednesday he bowled fast and straight, and according to the batsmen was very hard to nominate. Ngam will start the season slowly, playing a few club and provincial games to get fully fit, as well as getting some much-needed match practice. He has been working closely with Kepler Wessels, and will be ready, if selected, for the series against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Simons is looking forward to his first challenge when the national team take on Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Morocco early next month. Coming out of an off season, unlike Sri Lanka who are going into their third series, and Pakistan who have had a trip to Australia, he is looking at the trip as a warm-up for the home international season and the World Cup.

"The season will be taken game by game, and I believe that winning breeds a winning culture in the team," Simons said. "The focus will however be on the World Cup early next year and we will be gearing ourselves towards that."

Simons feels that the shortened local domestic will give players just on the outside of the national squad ample time to show their form. Any player who comes into a rich vein of form will come through. The camp will end after further group discussions and net sessions on Friday afternoon.

© CricInfo Ltd.