Players and coaches from emerging cricket nations in the East Asia – Pacific (EAP) region will visit the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy (CBCA) next week (week beginning 14 October) to undertake the same training offered to Australia's leading young players.

Fourteen players and two coaches from Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu will spend two weeks (14 – 25 October) at the academy's Adelaide base, under the guidance of CBCA Senior Coach Wayne Phillips.

Among the talented players visiting the CBCA is Japanese captain Tetsuo Fuji, a bowler capable of taking wickets bowling with either his left or right arm.

Fuji dismissed two batsmen in consecutive balls, one bowling right-arm medium pace and the other with left-arm off-spin, at the Asian Cricket Council Trophy in Sharjah in 2000.

The visit is a joint initiative of the International Cricket Council (ICC) EAP development program and the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) to promote and develop the game beyond its traditional boundaries.

Throughout the party's stay, CBCA staff will take them through the facilities and advanced coaching and training programs delivered to CBCA scholarship holders.

Further to this, the players and coaches will also sit the ACB Level One Coach Education course, the Introductory Umpire Education course, visit local schools and observe an ACB MILO Have-A-Go Centre.

Members of the touring party will be available to media at a training session on Tuesday 15 October at 1030 at Adelaide Oval number two.

Who: Players and coaches from Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Papua New Guinea Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu, along with CBCA Head Coach Bennett King and ICC Development Officer Tim Anderson.
What: Media opportunities with EAP players at training.
Where: Adelaide Oval number two, Adelaide.
When: 1030, Tuesday 15 October.

For further information please contact:
Stephanie Beltrame, ACB Public Affairs Project Officer, on (03) 9653 9927 or 0409 524 482; Tim Anderson, ICC Development Officer, on (03) 9653 9945 or 0407 841 850; or Wayne Phillips, CBCA Senior Coach, on (08) 8353 5832 or 0408 174 233.

© ICC 2002