Working with the five local coaches, all former Ranji Trophy players, Ian Frazer splits them up into pairs; almost as a rule, one strong lad teams up with one who is weaker, slower.

The coaches give the pairs their starting orders; at a signal, they set out, a minute and a half apart. The apparent goal is to complete the circuit as shown in the video, but the aims of the exercise are considerably more diverse. "Lalit Modi has provided a gym here that is as good as any in the world - but I don't want to see the boys spending too much time there," chief coach Greg Chappell says.

"What you get in a gym are social muscles, the kind that looks good on a beach, or in a T-shirt, but are valueless on the sports field. What you really need are functional muscles, the sort that builds you up for what you do on the cricket field, and this circuit is one of the steps to getting there."

For instance, Chappell points out, when you run over the uneven ground, and then jump into a pit that is a good seven feet deep, you are working out the "back chain muscles" of the leg - the ones that, beginning with the glutes, go down the back of your thighs, the knee, the calves, all the way down to the sole of your foot.

It is these muscles that take tremendous strain when playing - the shock of bowling, the sudden accelerations and decelerations of fielding and running between wickets. Cricket is a stop-start game, as opposed to the almost continuous nature of soccer, hockey, basketball and such; given that, there is inordinate strain placed on the muscles at the back of the leg, which have to propel you forward at speed from a standing start and equally, brake you to a dead stop when you are hurtling forward.

"Running on a treadmill does nothing to strengthen your hamstrings, for instance - the action on the treadmill does not duplicate the way you run on the field of play. Running over a course of this kind, on the other hand, strengthens the hamstrings and the Achilles, two of the most injury-prone areas for cricketers."

While Chappell monitors the action from mid-course, Frazer is at the starting line, which is also the finish. There are, he points out, other elements to this particular segment. "For starters, there is team spirit. There is no value to the individual completing the course; you have to do it as a pair. So the stronger ones are forced to adjust their pace to that of their weaker colleagues, to run as a team; also, when your colleague is stuck, struggling - say at that point where they have to climb out of the pit which at that point is over 9 feet deep - the stronger one helps the weaker colleague up.

"You can talk all you want about team spirit, about playing in pairs or as a team, but those are just words. Here, they learn the value of working with one another, subliminally, without being lectured."

Chappell and Frazer point out that the competitive element is built in. Each pair, when it sets out, has two objectives: completing the course is the most obvious, but they get points if they can catch up to the pair ahead of them.

"These kids have been working with us for five days," Chappell says. "The first time we put them through this course, half of them failed to complete it; today, every pair has completed the circuit, their timings are getting better, and their overall body conditioning is visibly improving."