Why did you decide to take the job? What was the attraction for you?

Well I guess there are several reasons. One being that I have been in my current position for ten and a half years now and I guess there has been a bit of a sameness about what I have been doing and I feel as though I need a new challenge – not that it's not challenging doing what I have been doing!

I guess the thought of being able to start a programme. I did not initially start the programme in Australia, I came on three years after the programme started - the programme started in 1988 and I came on in 1991. So, there's an excitement about starting a new programme.

I also believe that it is important that in world cricket England is strong – and I am not suggesting that they aren't strong – but I am suggesting that this Academy system has been fantastic for Australian cricket and I am sure that the same will apply to English cricket. It excites me to think that we can have a strong England team as a result of hopefully some of my labours.

What are your targets for the job?

This first thing you must understand is that it is not going to happen overnight. You have to show some patience. I guess what the major target will be for me over the next three years will be to develop some players that in three, five, seven years' time there will be a base of perhaps 20 players that are very good Test Match and ODI players, so that when the selectors sit down to select a side it will be damn difficult for them – it will be difficult because these guys will have had a grounding which will be suitable for them to be successful at Test or ODI level. The more people you have in that base, then I think the stronger that nation becomes. That's going to be the major push from me – to try and get 20-25 players or more that are really capable of performing consistently well at the highest level.

It's not rocket science. It's a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, from not only the coaching staff but in particular the players. The players get very good rewards and they have got to have a hell of a lot of pride in their performance and a hell of a lot of pride in their country - and yet at the same time realise that it is only a game and that games are there to be enjoyed. That's very much part of it all, to get enjoyment from what they are doing. They have got to be positive and just play the type of cricket that will be entertaining. Funny part about the game of cricket is that you enjoy it more when you are winning!

What has the National Academy done for Australian cricket and what can England gain from having an Academy?

I think the biggest thing which comes to mind in recent years is that whenever there has been a retirement in Australian cricket the team seems to get stronger. That is what the Academy system has done.

The players have had a hell of a good grounding in mostly playing matches against good strong opposition, playing matches away from their home country and getting the feel of what it is like to play good hard cricket on a consistent basis. That to me is how you improve – being pestered the whole time. If you are in the comfort zone and you know you can play well when you have to, against opposition that is `so-so', I don't believe that you ever really improve because you never really test your own barriers. But if you are put in a situation where you have to perform at your best, consistently, to be successful you become a lot harder and a lot more capable of performing at the highest level.

How hard a decision was it to leave Australian cricket and come and work for the English?

When you are playing the game, you are so determined and it becomes a do-or-die effort and you try to win for your team and win for your country. When you have finished playing you obviously want your country to win and you take an interest in it. But when you have been in the game as long as I have, the major interest becomes the game itself. I don't think you necessarily think about that as a player.

The greatest words I ever read on the game are from Sir Don Bradman and he said that it is the responsibility of everyone that has played the game to ensure the game continues - and I think that the game of cricket is more important than whether you come from England, India, Australia or West Indies.

© ECB