ASHES winners of the future will have York-based Shepherd Construction to thank.

The construction firm has completed cricket's first national training and rehabilitation centre at Loughborough University in Leicestershire.

The groundbreaking £4 million indoor cricket centre for the England and Wales Cricket Board is the largest and best equipped of its kind in the world - and the latest intake of National Academy players began training there this month.

The three-storey building houses a six-lane cricket hall measuring 70 metres by 25 metres together with an innovative "hawk-eye" tracking system which will be installed as a coaching aid in all lanes.

The facility also accommodates a variety of other services, including a large fitness and conditioning centre, together with changing rooms and recovery rooms and hot and cold spa baths.

The new centre has also allowed the National Academy's staff to be permanently based at Loughborough as its new offices are also housed in the building. There are seminar rooms, bars and a viewing balcony as well as a "performance analysis suite' which allows data from the hawk-eye tracking system to be studied using the latest technology.

Updated: 09:47 Tuesday, November 18, 2003