What do the world's number one fast bowler and batsman do to prepare for a Test match in Sri Lanka?

Apart from the obvious polishing of technical skills in the nets and analysis of the opposition, Glenn McGrath and Steve Waugh spent this morning visiting two of the favoured tourist sites of Kandy. After a guided tour of a magnificent Buddhist temple, our captain, his main strike bowler and a few of their team-mates travelled through spectacular, mountainous countryside for an enthralling tour of a Kandy elephant sanctuary. Always looking for a thrill of nature, 'Pigeon' was the first of the team to accept an offer of a ride on the park's oldest elephant, a 40-year-old giant of an animal.

So revered are the elephants in this part of the world that we had to remove our shoes as a mark of respect for their four-legged worshipped heroes.

Riding on this massive creature was an incredible experience, not unlike sitting on top of a powerful front-end loader. The opportunity to see these beautiful yet awesome creatures in their natural environment was an opportunity not to missed. With an afternoon training session scheduled, most of the guys took the chance for a little spiritual cleansing through nature and by means of the impressive man-made wonder of the 500-year-old Buddhist temple.

With everyone in good spirits, training this afternoon was a great session with everyone making the most of the excellent practice facilities at the Asgiriya ground here in Kandy. The attitude is very positive within the team with every member of the touring party fired up for tomorrow's first Test. The 12th man will be named in the morning depending on the state of the pitch, but at this stage I would say Damien Fleming or in-form off-spinner Colin Miller will be the unfortunate player to miss out for this Test.

The strength of any team can be monitored by the men sitting on the bench and considering we have Stuart MacGill, Matty Hayden and Simon Katich missing out tomorrow, it would be fair to say that we will field a very strong first 11 for the next five days. Test cricket is in the air here in Kandy, as it is within the atmosphere of the Australian cricket team who are raring to go.

From Kandy, Sri Lanka, JL