Schofield recommendation that's probably more important than it seems

Player personal development for the Performance Squad
The Performance Squad is a group of players who aren't centrally-contracted, but England clearly have in mind. It's what the Academy's been heading towards recently. Personal development means that Performance Squad alumni should be good, rounded human beings who can deal with the media, rather than the word-shy automatons who seem to have been created under the current programme.

This might also be interpreted as a need to foster a certain independence in tomorrow's international cricketers. While many production-line England players are borderline juvenile and need to be told what to do, great cricketers tend to go the extra mile off their own backs, be it seeking out knowledge or perfecting a technique or whatever.

They want to instil the philosophy of relentless self-improvement that powers the Australian cricketing juggernaut. Can it be done?

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