Liddle's daily report

Chris Liddle gives us the latest update from Port Elizabeth and he seems to found a new love for cycling.

The day started very early at 5:30am at a cycling dome, with half the group doing cycling sprints on the race bikes with no breaks and the other half doing interval running on the running track in the middle. We then all swapped after the group completed the cycling sprints. The cycling was so much fun, but hard work at the same time. The speeds we could get up to were amazing and nobody fell off, which was a bonus although Jordan did look a bit dodgy going round the corners. I think his co-ordination was letting him down a bit.

We then came back for breakfast before heading to nets where we again split into groups. Some doing full net practice, some doing bowling drills and the rest on the bowling machine with Grubby - practicing to hit the ball for six. I think this has to be my favourite practice as it’s not often you get a chance to be in the middle and practice hitting balls into the stands. I then finished practice with bowling drills with Kirtley. I’m feeling very confident about my bowling and the progress that I have made so far on this trip and also with my batting.

The day ended with a strength session, which involved a lot of power lifting. I’m lifting more and more weight each session we do, as are most of the other lads. We were then treated to a fitness tractor tyre lifting/flipping race. I think the tractors in South Africa are a bit bigger than the ones in England, because these were some big old tyres!! Long story short - my team won – Me, Mach, Nuzzy and Craig ... Jordan fell in the tyre trying to lift it, which was very amusing if you could imagine an Ostrich sticking its head in the sand - that’s pretty much what it looked like.