Geoff 'Swampy' Marsh, the Aussie who has been hired as consultant by the BCCI, was here on day one of the camp. He didn't play an active role in the coaching, contenting himself with speaking to the guys about mental toughness, and a few cricketing issues.

One player feels that Marsh explained the concept of mental toughness better than anyone ever had before.

"Mental toughness," runs the Marsh dictum, "is not about going out there and facing a fast bowler without fear. In fact, most of mental toughness is not about guts or glory on the field, it is about what you manage to do when you are off the field. Suppose one morning you wake up and don't feel like going for practice and yet you push yourself to get up and go, that is mental toughness, that is the will to fight your inner weaknesses. When you do what you don't feel like doing, that is when you get tough in the mind, and that is the kind of toughness you need."

Meanwhile, back to the cribbers, and John Wright. "John has been analyzing the Aussie tour so much that we are burdened with thoughts, it ain't funny," says one player.

Makes you wonder if the crib comes from the fact that the Indians are not used to getting much input from their coaches beyond the mandatory 'Bat well, field well, bowl well'.

"One thing about John," this player explains, "is that I can't easily relate with him. He says that you should work on your strength in the nets. If you are good at defense, you should work on it and get even better at it. But how can I improve on my other strokes if I keep working on my strengths? Maybe I haven't understood what he was trying to say, maybe he was trying to say something else, but I don't understand."

Then again, it could all boil down to state of mind. For instance, take Harbajan Singh. John Wright has him focussed on control, on practising the art of landing the ball on one spot at will, for as long as he wants to. "It makes sense," says the young offie. "John was telling me that it was his personal experience that if you keep pitching the ball in one spot, the batsman tries to do something different and that proves his undoing."

Another reason for the cribs could be that John Wright seems to have a low tolerance level for prima donnas -- a fact borne out by some of the younger players. "He is very professional," points out one of the young spin bowlers attending the camp. "He is a team man to the core, and doesn't believe in individual brilliance. He seems to focus all the time on combining all the talents into a team, and is not as bothered about highlighting individual stars. He lays much stress on attitude -- how much you give to the team is what is uppermost with him.

"I guess you must understand where he is coming from," he elaborates. "He comes from a country where there were no superstars. So for him, the emphasis is mostly on team performance."

John has been talking a lot about his own experiences. John was never a highly talented cricketer himself. He has learnt and played his cricket the hard way. Hence he emphasizes the need to practice day in and day out to achieve excellence.

The games men play