CAPE TOWN: South Africa’s cricketers have turned to physical challenges in their bid for elusive limited overs success in the Champions Trophy starting in England and Wales next week.
Part of their preparations have taken place in Amsterdam where they have taken on a bike challenge, canoed the canals and clambered to the top of the city’s tallest building.
The tasks, ahead of a one-day international against the Netherlands tomorrow, are part of a rigorous training camp that coach Gary Kirsten hopes will give the team an extra edge.
The Proteas’ buildup has also included some testing physical work set by polar adventurer Mike Horn.
Horn worked with India before their 2011 World Cup success and last year put the team through their paces in the Swiss Alps before they beat England to become the world’s number one test nation.
Fast bowler Dale Steyn, in an interview released by Cricket South Africa yesterday, said: “The challenges that Mike puts us through helps us to cope better with some of the small things you might face when you are on a cricket field. That is what might give us the edge. He has been great. He put us through physical activities which tested our bodies and made us work as a team.”
Horn, who has walked around the equator, solo circumnavigated the Arctic Circle and walked to the North Pole in winter, last year had the South Africans climb a 3000 metres peak in sub-zero temperatures and then made them mountain bike back to their hotel.
“We are all professionals and everybody in the side knows what to do before our first game in the UK,” Steyn said in the official statement. REUTERS
