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Not every Englishman is mourning his country's poor showing in the cricket season in Australia this summer.

For Stephen Parry, one of the young coaches at the UWA-based Cricket Academy, it meant a call-up to the England T20 World Cup team.

And, in his debut again the West Indies in Antigua this month, Stephen took three wickets and was named Man of the Match. England beat the Windies in the second One Day International by three wickets.

Stephen, a left-arm spin bowler originally from Manchester, has been at the Academy (which operates under the auspices of the School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health) for two years. In summer he plays for Midland-Guildford and in (our) winter, he goes home to play for Lancashire.

A professional cricketer for nine years, he has already seen a lot of the world through his sport. He has been in the Lions (equivalent to Australia A) system for several years.

"I've played one-day cricket for England in the Caribbean, Dubai, India, Bangladesh, and I've seen a lot of Australia too, playing for four years in Melbourne and one in Sydney before coming to Perth," he said.

"I like the one-day format. T20 is especially crazy. It's fun and it gets the crowds in."

He said he was very happy to see Brad Hogg and Brad Hodge chosen in the Australian T20 World Cup team. "Hoggie's 43 and Hodge is 39. It makes me hopeful that I can keep playing to that age too!"

Stephen said he thought England was a better side than their performance this summer indicated. "Like the Australian team when Warnie and all the others left around the same time, it took a few years for them to regroup and make it to the top again.  I just hope it doesn't take England that long."

His job with the Cricket Academy is to coach young up-and-coming English players who pay handsomely to spend a season in Perth, living at University Hall, training on James Oval every morning and learning other skills in the afternoons.

Ian Thacker started the academy 12 years ago as his own business, paying the University for the use of James Oval, considered second only to the WACA for cricket in WA.

"Then three years ago, the School of Sport Science offered to take me in and make the academy part of the School and the University," Ian said.

"We have 12 lads at and time and they know they are privileged to have full-time coaching here.  The facilities are fantastic.  After cricket training each morning, they do other fitness training in the afternoon, and work with Sandy Gordon, the School's sports psychologist, who is a legend in international cricket circles

"They would never be able to work with somebody like him back in England.

"The lads also work with the School's Thrive program (for children recovering from cancer) and work with patients in the chemotherapy gym."

It was Ian Thacker who arranged for the English test team to visit UWA in December and play a demonstration match on James Oval.

"They couldn't believe how good this place was," he said. "Andy Flower (England's coach) said I had the best job in the world and we talked about the England team coming here, to the Academy at UWA, every Australian summer to train."

But that now seems unlikely to happen, as the future of the Cricket Academy is uncertain in the current tertiary education economic climate.