It would seem that England are preparing much more thoroughly for the Ashes than they did for the ill-fated series of 2006-07.
In the series that time forgot, injuries and illnesses to key players like captain Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick and Simon Jones plus a confused selection policy that saw Geraint Jones and Ashley Giles preferred to Chris Read and Monty Panesar at Brisbane didn't help. But a lack of warm-up matches and a seeming hubristic approach saw things unravel in dramatic and dismal fashion.
So it is good to see two three day and one four day first class matches before the first test starts in Brisbane on 25th November. And this week, the England squad have been on a bonding training camp in Germany where they slept in tents and took part in a series of activities including bungee jumps and boxing.
The pictures seem to suggest that all had a good time, though no doubt Kevin Pietersen complained it was a long way from Chelsea and Chris Tremlett was hopefully kept away from the bungee jumping in case his glass body broke again.
The trip ended on a poignant note with a trip with a trip to the war memorial site at Dachau, which harked back to a similar trip to Flanders last summer before the Ashes. England won that series of course, so hopefully their Bavarian expedition will provide a similar inspiration.
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