England Performance Programme intakes

The first intake to the National Academy, as it was then known, was the winter of 2001-02, when the party were based at the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy (CBCA) in Adelaide, Australia.

The 2001-02 Academy players were:

Ian Bell (Warwickshire)
Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire, pictured above)
Steve Harmison (Durham)
Simon Jones (Glamorgan)
Derek Kenway (Hampshire)
Robert Key (Kent)
Steve Kirby (Yorkshire)
Nicky Peng (Durham)
Chris Schofield (Lancashire)
Owais Shah (Middlesex)
Andrew Strauss (Middlesex)
Graeme Swann (Northants)
Chris Tremlett (Hampshire)
Alex Tudor (Surrey)
Mak Wagh (Warwickshire)
Mark Wallace (Glamorgan)
Matthew Wood (Yorkshire)

For the 2002-03 winter the Academy was again based at the CBCA in Adelaide. The 15-player intake played a number of competitive fixtures in Australia, then toured Sri Lanka via a stop-off in Kuala Lumpur.

The 2002-03 Academy players originally named were:

Kabir Ali (Worcestershire)
James Anderson (Lancashire)
Gareth Batty (Worcestershire)
Ian Blackwell (Somerset)
Rikki Clarke (Surrey)
Kyle Hogg (Lancashire)
Gordon Muchall (Durham)
Monty Panesar (Northants)
Chris Read (Notts)
Chris Tremlett (Hampshire)
Jim Troughton (Warks)
Alex Tudor (Surrey)
Graham Wagg (Warks)
Mark Wallace (Glamorgan)

Richard Dawson and Robert Key, who were members of the England Test squad touring Australia, were also named in the 14-man tour squad, which did not include Anderson, Tudor and Wagg.

The National Academy staff and 2002-03 intake

The 2003-04 intake was the first to benefit from the new National Academy facility at Loughborough. A 14-player group was joined by Kent's Ed Smith for the England A tour to Malaysia and India in February and March 2004.