Langer boot camp turns WA to steel

Young Western Australian quick Joel Paris says the absence of senior players during the Warriors' gruelling preseason has had a galvanising effect on the team.

The lack of the old hands left a young crop of players as putty in the hands of Justin Langer, to be moulded into cricketers the former Test batsman hopes will continue WA's success in recent years.

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"With the Ashes, the West Indies tour earlier in the year and the Australia A tour, the amount of guys we had in those squads left quite a hole in our preseason, especially with most being senior players," Paris told cricket.com.au.

"Adam Voges,  our captain and Shaun Marsh, our vice-captain, and Mitchell Marsh all playing Test cricket, plus Michael Klinger over in England, and a couple of guys playing for Australia A like Cameron Bancroft, Ashton Agar and Nathan Coulter-Nile, it was a really different preseason.

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Voges and Shaun Marsh collect the Frank Worrell Trophy // Getty

"It was quite tough but not having a lot of senior guys around meant the other guys had to pick up the slack and look after each other.

"We're such a close group, everyone is looking out for each other and that closeness will be an advantage going forward."

Paris said some of the new faces in the Western Australia set-up had been shocked by how hard the Warriors were worked by Langer.

The former Test batsman is famous for his gruelling pre-seasons, which this year included a four-day camp on Rottnest Island where the Warriors completed a series of tasks including 100 sprints in 100 minutes and a triathlon.

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"We're trying to be the best and all through the preseason it just got tougher and tougher," Paris said.

"We tried to push the boundaries further and further and to everyone's credit everyone responded really well.

"We've had a couple of young guys come into squad who were just shocked at how hard we work.

"Another guy, Jonathan Wells came over from Tasmania and he was just rapt to see how hard we train."

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Aiming to defend their 2014-15 Matador BBQs One-Day Cup title, the Warriors were given a boost on Friday with formidable foursome Cameron Bancroft, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh and Adam Voges returning to the squad following the postponement of Australia's tour of Bangladesh.

Voges' return means he has taken the captaincy reins back from Michael Klinger, but the man who was to be stand-in skipper said he was pleased at the added strength.

"It definitely makes us stronger," Klinger said.

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"But it makes a lot of other teams stronger as well.

"NSW almost have an Australian Test XI playing for them and Victoria already had a strong list.

"It's going to make for a fantastic tournament I think."