By Scott Heinrich

NO STONE LEFT UNTURNED There are no excuses now, this is a wonderful opportunity so let's go forward ECB Academy coach Rod Marsh

English cricket has opened its doors to the future with the National Academy now fully operational at Loughborough University.

This winter, the third intake of the England and Wales Cricket Board's nursery is the first to be let loose on a pristine training base that cost no less than �4.5m to make.

A joint venture between the ECB, the lottery-funded Sport England and the university, the centre was built to do one thing: turn today's rookies into tomorrow's stars.

The Academy's first two classes wintered in various training centres down under in Adelaide, but if two years of inconvenience did anything it showed the ECB how it wanted things to be.

What now stands proudly at the Loughborough campus is a study in completeness.

ECB Academy squad

Perhaps the reason the 14 players chosen for the 2003-04 intake are not allowed to leave is because they do not need to. Simply, everything is here.

Medical and rehabilitation services are available to Academy students

In addition to fitness, medical and conditioning centres, Academy students are provided with on-site accommodation fitted out to three-star standard.

Two houses with nine bedrooms each allow players privacy and comfort, but with kitchen and laundry facilities they will have to cook and clean for themselves.

Indeed, Academy management say they are in the business of making men as well as cricketers.

When they are not batting, bowling or fielding, the rookies are given lessons in finance, dieting, media relations and public speaking.

Nothing is left to chance in cricketing terms. Outdoors, the Academy has full use of Loughborough's main oval (which is used for some first-class games), while a bank of up to 18 grass nets are being development.

But undoubtedly, the jewel in the crown is the indoor centre.

The performance analysis suite tracks every move of every player

Trumpeted as the largest bespoke indoor cricket centre in the world, it measures 70m by 25m and boasts six bowling lanes. If it is not the biggest, it is hard to imagine one more impressive.

Overlooking the indoor centre is the cerebral hub of the operation, a performance analysis suite holding video footage and data gained from the Hawkeye system which casts its beady eye over each bowling lane.

Everyhting about the Academy site speaks achievement, but on everybody's lips is the question of what it will do for England.

Predictably, and perhaps understandably, the Academy's head coach Rod Marsh believes the sky is the limit.

"This is the best indoor centre in the world - there is no doubt about that," he said.

"We showed the players and I said to them 'there are no excuses now, this is a wonderful opportunity so let's go forward'.

Players are given regular evaluation sessions to monitor their progress

"No facility can make a cricketer, but there are no excuses now for everyone who comes here to become the best cricketer they can be.

"It will not happen overnight, so people have to be patient. But England have a real desire to become the best team in the world by the 2007 World Cup, and I see this as a real stepping stone to that goal."

Marsh hopes the Academy's new base is the start of a cricket dynasty in England.

"Each player has been given a locker in the changing room, and their names will stay on them for the next 20 years," he explained.

"I want it to be like an Academy timeline, so that in the future boys will come here and be able to look at their lockers and see the players who have come before them and hopefully represented England."

But that transition guages success in half-measures only. The acid test comes when they meet, and beat, the world's finest.

As Marsh said, there are no excuses now.