BRISBANE: It’s not a surprise that both the Australian men’s and women’s teams dominate world cricket on a continued basis because the country’s cricket board, Cricket Australia (CA), has ensured to invest their time and energies in the right direction.
Well before other cricket boards were even warming up to the idea of a state-of-the-art facility, CA had theirs up and running – the National Cricket Centre (NCC) in Brisbane. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently inaugurated their new Centre of Excellence (CoE) but they were definitely late to the party as the current National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru is nowhere close to what the NCC offers.

Away from the hustle and bustle of the city, nestled between plenty of car manufactures, sellers and resellers, is the sprawling facility which is the second home for CA cricketers.
A quick walkthrough of the state-of-the-art facility is enough to understand why the country continues to produce champion cricketers – both men’s and women’s – and continues to be the world beaters in multi-national tournaments. The attention to detail and meticulous planning is visible in every corner of the facility located on a street named after former Australia captain Greg Chappell.

Chappell is not the only Aussie and Queensland legend who finds a mention here. There is an Allan Border Field, Matthew Hayden Stand, Andy Bichel Gym and Ian Healy room in the centre which has covered all bases from cricket to rehabilitation. Queensland weather is one of the prime reasons why Cricket Australia looked in this direction and invested more time and effort by redeveloping the entire facility three years ago.
The weather allows the cricket board to have turf wickets all year and enough space permits them to experiment with different playing surfaces. Right behind the Allan Border Field – which has hosted international and Big Bash League (BBL) fixtures – is the Ray Lindwall Oval which features different squares to help them prepare for challenges at home and abroad.
The curators work round the year to prepare bouncy pitches like Australia, slow and low surfaces like India and add that green tinge on a separate square for The Ashes. Then there is also a centre wicket to allow match simulations and open nets. If and when the weather doesn’t allow outdoor action – like it was visible during the recent India-Australia Test at The Gabba – there is a full-fledged indoor set-up with a complete run-up for bowlers, speed guns, bowling machines and even an elevated vantage point for the media to see the players train.

Australian cricket teams use this facility for their extended camps before a long assignment and they even open doors to visiting teams if they are playing their first game at The Gabba. Had India played their first Test in Brisbane, the visitors would have been camped here for all their training and recovery needs and it also features a fully functional gym, players lounge and aquatic centre – with a 25m lap pool and a couple of smaller ones for recovery.
Unlike India cricketers, an Australian cricketer is not really required to check-in to the facility during their rehab programme as they follow a very decentralised model. A player is free to recover and train wherever he/she wants but they must follow the protocols and routines shared by the central team of doctors, physios and Strength and Conditioning coaches. Even Josh Hazlewood passed his fitness checks at this very facility before getting a nod for the third Test vs Australia.

The NCC is not a residential facility and it is only used by players for a brief period in a year. For the remainder, they are mostly on the road but the facility keeps its doors open for BBL, Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), Queensland teams to train and recover. The rest of the year sees CA marketing and other teams operate out of the corporate office which is located on the second floor of the facility.
Even in the middle of the busy calendar, there was activity in the Centre as the Queensland team were using the indoor nets area and there were some players using the functional gym. While India didn’t train here, they continue to have prominent representation as Virat Kohli’s signed MRF bat was neatly placed in the reception of the facility.

And while Kohli had lesser impact with his bat at the Gabba than Akash Deep, there is knowledge that Australia’s quest to keep producing bowlers that could keep him quiet has a stable home.