Lehmann reveals swimming, anti-gravity treadmill play big part in Oz squad's fitness

Australia cricket team coach Darren Lehmann has revealed that swimming plays a big part in keeping the players fit among the other activities that include anti-gravity treadmill and video playback system.

Lehmann has given a detailed tour of the 29 million dollars Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, which features technology that has changed the way Australian players prepare.

The Bupa NCC boasts of an ALTERG anti-gravity treadmill, specially designed for players like Ryan Harris, who has a history of knee problems. The anti-gravity treadmill allows an athlete to run without feeling the impact of their body weight, News.com.au reported.

Lehmann also revealed that the facility has a video playback system, which allows batters get to see themselves about 10 seconds after they've played a particular shot so they can almost self coach and talk to the coaches.

Lehmann explained that it's fantastic to get instant feedback for a batter and to get the information they need to improve before the next ball.

The facility also boasts of a pro batter, which Lehman said is a magnificent machine where one actually gets a bowler running in off a screen and there's a little hole in the screen where the ball is released from. He added that they have got England in the World Cup, for example, so they would have Jimmy Anderson programmed in the machine and be facing him at the indoor centre.

Lehmann claimed that it's a fantastic system to get used to facing the bowlers one is coming up against in a big game like the World Cup.

Revealing the spin technology, 'Trackman', Lehmann said that it counts how many revolutions are on the ball when the bowler delivers it, adding that Nathan Lyon is about 2100, while legendary spinner Shane Warne was about 2600 when he played.

Lehmann said that James Muirhead is the highest one there at 2800.

The Australian team also takes its swimming very seriously, bringing in the likes of Olympic gold medallists Grant Hackett and Steph Rice to conduct lessons.

The facility has a three-lane 25-metre lap pool with walking lane and a hot and cold plunge pool. Lehmann claimed that swimming is big part of the players rehab and their fitness, so they get them in the pool whenever they can.