Down Under with Iain Brunnschweiler - A Hampshire cricketer's winter in Australia.

WITH the English national side putting together a lacklustre performance in the first Test against India, it was great to hear that the National Academy side has been more successful in Adelaide.

I spoke to Derek Kenway just after the English lads had given the Australian cricket Academy a sound beating in a four-day game.

Our country's most promising young players clocked up an awesome 600-7 in their only innings, before bowling the Aussies out twice, to win by an innings.

'Kenners' scored 60, and Chris Tremlett picked up three wickets, so the Hampshire influence was there for all to see.

This bodes well for the future of English cricket, and I really believe that there's an exciting group of young players emerging.

One of the Perth lads was playing for the ACA, and he was very impressed with the young 'Poms'.

He is sure that the influence of Rod Marsh will be big and their results after one 'term' together are looking good.

The likes of Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Nicky Peng (Durham) and Owais Shah (Middlesex), as well as our own Kenway, are a brilliant set of batsmen.

And with the pace of Steve Harmison (Durham), Steve Kirby (Yorks) and Simon Jones (Glamorgan), there is a battery of bowlers that could rip Test sides apart in years to come. With Richard Dawson and James Foster already selected for the national team, the nucleus of a quality unit is at the disposal of the selectors, with all of the above in their very early 20's. I just hope that the chances are given at the appropriate times.

There have also been some good performances in WACA grade cricket from the Auscricket boys.

Ian Thomas hit 162 for his club Mount Lawley on the weekend, the highest individual score for the 'Hawks' for eight years, and Chris Liptrot has grabbed seven fairly cheap wickets in his last two outings for Midland-Guilford.

Some other Australian faces that may be familiar to Southern League players have been doing well for their respective sides.

Ben Lillis, who scored over 500 runs for Burridge in 1999, hit 108 for Paul Terry's club, Melville, and Luke Ronchi smashed 178 for Perth.

Ronchi had two very successful seasons at Bashley, and will be returning this season in search of more runs.

There's a lot of quality cricket being played by both young English and Australian players which is good for the game.

We are entering our last week of training before our Christmas break but, one thing's for sure, it won't feel like Christmas!

With the daily temperature over the 30-degree mark, it's a far cry from the log-fire and warm slippers of England.

It will be a bit strange having a 'barbie' on the 25th, rather than opening up woolly jumpers and having roast turkey!

But this is all part of the Aus-experience.