What the nation's next generation is working on

The cycle has already begun for the 2028 U19 Men's World Cup, with a group of 26 players landing in Adelaide for a talent camp. 

Players who had the chance to show their skills in last year's National U17 Male Championships reconnected for a four-day gathering with a range of activities on the cards.

Two 50-over games and one T20 were scheduled to showcase some match play, as well as physical and athletic testing, psychology and learning sessions, nutrition education and individual player development plans.

And with development the crux of this camp, cricket.com.au took the chance to ask the players one key question: what are you working on in the lab?

Neel Patel opens the batting for New South Wales and also bowls off-spin. 

With an aim to keep the strike ticking over and a desire to bat for long periods of time, Patel has been working on his back-foot skills to get to the next level.

"Batting wise, it’s back-foot stuff. I've been given advice from my coaches on how to work on that," Patel told cricket.com.au.

"Then also fielding, and the strength and fitness side of the game."

Patel thinks a lot about the game and is keen to get better in any way he can.

He keeps a OneNote file to track the progress of his form and development, and spends time filling it out after each game. 

"I think its just to stay on track with what I do and just be accountable," Patel said.

"The OneNote keeps track of my performances; what I did well and what I can improve on for every single game, so I'm always learning."

Away from the field, Patel enjoys cooking, playing chess with his dad and building LEGO sets to take his mind off the game. 

Spencer Green is a leg-spinner from Toombul in Queensland, who spends a lot of time in the nets with his dad, honing his craft.

"I like to try and build pressure and bowl as many dots as I can, while also trying to be aggressive and taking wickets," Green said.

"I like to use my slider and wrong'un a lot, I think that's one of my strengths."

But after watching a lot of Shane Warne's best work, Green has put plenty of work into a tricky delivery to master. 

"I've been working really hard on my flipper, it's a ball that's really hard to bowl," Green said.

"With heaps of practice I'll be able to get it to a level where it's good eventually, but it might take another two or three years to get that."

"I've also been working on changing my pace up as much as possible to keep the batsman guessing."

Matthew Lough is a top to middle-order batter from WA, who also bowls a bit of off-spin. 

His story is a classic one – he was driven to get better after countless backyard battles with his brother, who is 17 months his senior.

Then he progressed up the ranks alongside him, through school and grade cricket at Claremont in Perth.

Lough was also a capable hockey player who even got the chance to head to Darwin and Tasmania to showcase his talents. 

"I started pretty late and it was a pretty rapid rise," he said. "I got picked for a couple of state teams, but I just stopped enjoying it."

For the last year, Lough has put his mind solely towards cricket, spending a lot of time with his coaches at the new WACA facilities.

"(I've been working on) setting up a bit better, trying to access front and back foot a bit better," Lough said.

"I was a bit one-dimensional at the start of the year."

Blake Cattle is a self-described country kid from Wollongong, south of Sydney, who has just started his electrical apprenticeship this year. 

"(I'm a) top-order batter who is not too aggressive but I try to move it along pretty quickly," Cattle said.

Access to better facilities through opportunities like this training camp has helped Cattle's development immensely. 

"Facilities are a lot better now than at local cricket. If there was rain at local cricket, we probably wouldn’t get training on. But now it’s a lot easier."

And as for what he's working on – Cattle keeps it pretty simple: "Probably not falling over (across the line) when I'm batting, and keeping my head still."