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'I was thinking, we’re actually going to die'

Australia's players were put to the test far away from the cricket field this week, in a team-bonding exercise they hope is the first step towards World T20 glory

Australia’s preparations for their upcoming T20I series against New Zealand took a sharp turn away from the cricket field this week, landing somewhere far more akin to an episode of Survivor.

Over four days on the northern New South Wales coast, Meg Lanning’s players bonded over beach hikes, river swims, raft building and an ironwoman event – all aimed at fostering team spirit ahead of a summer that includes home limited-overs matches against the White Ferns and a World T20 in the Caribbean.


For two days, the Australian players walked between Wooli and Yamba, covering up to 20km each day, while their ingenuity was put to the test when they were required to build a raft to ferry their backpacks across a river.

Their team-bonding exercise was rounded out on Thursday when they completed an ‘ironwoman’ event in groups of three, each player taking a turn at either the swim, the run or the paddleboard legs.

The players weren’t told what the ‘mystery’ camp would involve in the lead-up and allrounder Nicola Carey said it had certainly lived up to its ‘expect the unexpected’ tag.

“It was good, it was fun… yeah it was a bit different,” a laughing Carey told cricket.com.au on Friday.

“We did a bit of team-building stuff. These activities… it wasn’t what I was expecting.

“It’s actually funny now I think about it, but at the time I was thinking, ‘we’re actually going to die. I can’t believe we’re out here’.

“But it’s pretty funny now. Everyone survived … I think.

“It was actually nice to get away and bond with the girls outside of cricket, it was quite a different experience.

“We had to pack our lunch in advance and our snacks and all that… I think Junior (Elyse Villani) packed six packets of beef jerky and that was literally it.”


For Australia coach Matthew Mott, the exercise was the perfect chance for the players and staff to ensure they were all on the same page before their first international match of the summer: a blockbuster Saturday night T20 at North Sydney Oval on September 29.

“It was really good,” Mott told cricket.com.au, explaining the camp was aimed at being more mentally challenging than physically gruelling, given the proximity to the start of the season.

“It was a great opportunity for everyone to get together away from cricket and talk, get to know each other.

“We threw in some mentally challenging activities, then we consolidated our values and talked about what’s important to us.”


Now the attention of the Australian camp will switch firmly back to cricket, with a series of warm-up games to be played at the Gold Coast’s Bill Pippen Oval across the coming days.

Mott said the trial games would be a perfect chance for players to “show us what they’ve got” ahead of a period what will see Australia play New Zealand in three home T20Is, travel to play Pakistan in October and then battle for the World T20 trophy in the Caribbean in November.

“Once we get into full game mode, it’s all on for the next few months,” he said. “I think we’ll look back on this period as being hugely important as part of our build up.”

CommBank T20 INTLs v NZ 

September 29: First T20I, North Sydney Oval, Sydney

October 1: Second T20I, Allan Border Field, Brisbane

October 5: Third T20I, Manuka Oval, Canberra

#WatchMe - Aussie stars to light up summer of cricket