Spinner's demolition of England provided Major with inspiration

AUSTRALIA

The probable inspiration for the pounds 100m British Sports Academy, announced by John Major yesterday, was a blond Australian leg-spin bowler. Shane Warne, who bewildered England's Test cricketers two years ago, is the most celebrated graduate of the Australian Institute of Sport.

After Warne, watched by Mr Major, had overwhelmed England in the 1993 Ashes series the Government began investigating the system that turned his raw talent into one of the world's most successful cricketers. Sebastian Coe, the former Olympian turned MP, made the first inquiry, then Iain Sproat, the sports minister, went to Australia for a personal look.

He found the most advanced sporting academy outside the former Soviet bloc, a centre for excellence which covered 20 sports. Created after Australia's abysmal display in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, the AIS has produced world champions in a series of sports, including hockey, netball, rugby, squash and swimming.

The AIS also assisted 26 of Australia's 27 medal winners at the Barcelona Olympics. That aid ranged from a pounds 5,000 grant to support the swimmer Kieran Perins in his training programme to the provision of full scholarships for the "awesome foursome" men's rowing crew.

The 300 scholarships, which provide pounds 15,000 worth of training, accommodation, food, education and overseas travel, are at the heart of the scheme. Some sports, like volleyball, base their national squads at the Canberra centre. Others, like the Adelaide-based cricket academy, concentrate on developing teenage talent.

It is all a long way from Sir Don Bradman practising his legendary batting skills with a stump and golf ball against a water tank in the bush and not everyone approves. In some team sports attendance is compulsory to make the national side and there is disquiet over the pressure on youngsters at the AIS and the influence of coaches from former Eastern-bloc countries where athletics was tainted by drug abuse.