It's five days of living, breathing and dreaming cricket and it's never been more popular. A full roster of 80 enthusiastic youths from throughout the country arrived in Masterton this week for the Bracewell Cricket Academy's 2007 Festival of Cricket. The Rathkeale College based academy prides itself on enticing international coaches tothe region specifically for the week long festival and on hand this year was former Australian off spinner and current Sri Lankan spin coach Ashley Mallet. Mallet, who has worked with the likes of Shane Warne and Mutiah Muralitharan, said bowling is all about knowing your "areas of danger". "When you've got a Warne or a Murali they've got areas as big as a dining room table, whereas (England's) Ashley Giles has a dinner plate. "The younger we can get these kids in the better because once they've got these basics they can start focussing on ways to get guys out," he said. It was particularly good to see so much enthusiasm, he said. "When they're not doing the structured training they're out having a net on their own which is great because like all things cricket is about practicing what you've learnt." Academy operator Brendon Bracewell said about seven months preparation goes into the festival and it was the busiest time of the year, but always "a hell of a lot of fun". "A lot of what we do is also about turning cricketers into good jokers which is why so much of it is team orientated," he said. "It's five days of pretty full-on training and they're definitely pretty knackered by the tie we send them home."
