Melbourne:
To ensure there is no repeat of the disastrous show by Australia where they lost 0-4 to India, Cricket Australia has decided to send pace legend Glenn McGrath on a two-week tour to India to work with a group of AIS scholars from CA`s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane.
The Men from Down Under suffered a whitewash at the hands of India in the Border-Gavaskar Test series earlier this year and Cricket Australia felt there was need for more experience in sub-continental conditions.
As part of CA`s Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) scholarship programme, the group consisting of Peter Handscomb, Kurtis Patterson, Joel Paris, Gurinder Sandhu, Josh Hazlewood, Matt Fotia will work with McGrath, who heads the MRF Pace Foundation academy in Chennai.
Former pacer Craig McDermott will also be working with the group in those two weeks.
"India is so different to Australia in nearly every way. The climate, the conditions, the sheer amount of people there, the food, and then the playing conditions as well. It`s going to be high 30s, early 40s every day. It`ll be pretty warm," McGrath was quoted as saying by the CA website.
It is hoped that working with the likes of McGrath on this tour will help the scholars should they be selected for Australia in the future.
"Hopefully, when and if they do move up to play for Australia, they`ve had a little bit of experience in India and it`s not such a shock culturally and the transition is a bit smoother," said McGrath.
McGrath spent time at the academy in 1992 under the tutelage of former director Dennis Lillee.
