ENGLAND'S Test cricketers may be edging up the world rankings, but that did not stop the nation's rising stars from putting on a pantomime performance in the Lakes.

Fortunately the action was confined to the stage rather than the field, as members of the England A team and Under-19 squads spent five days working with experts from Windermere-based Impact Development Training Group.

Part of the team development work involved a series of practical exercises, including each squad staging separate performances of Cinderella for Windermere schoolchildren as part of a team-building programme.

The week formed part of each squad's preparations for winter tours which got under way this week with mixed results in their opening matches.

England A are in the Caribbean making history as the first overseas side to compete in the West Indies' domestic competition, the Busta Challenge Cup, while the Under-19 squad is on tour in India.

It is the third year that the two junior squads have come to Windermere, and Impact joint director Paul Broom said the company hoped to eventually work with England's senior players.

More than 30 players, including A team members John Crawley of Lancashire, Yorkshire pace bowler Chris Silverwood and Surrey seamer Alex Tudor, underwent an intensive training programme, including agreeing ground rules for operating on and off the field while on tour, and dealing with the media.

The idea of England cricketers performing a pantomime would have invited barbed comments about life imitating art not so long ago, but the Test side is now riding the crest of a wave after three successive series victories.

Commenting in the panto, Mr Broom said: "We brought in a specialist pantomime consultant who worked with both squads.

I think the children and teachers enjoyed it.

It achieved what we wanted in terms of them working together as a unit.

It was quite daunting for them to perform in front of 150 kids doing something they had never done before."

Mr Broom said it was pleasing to see former A team and Under-19 squad members such as Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff, who had worked with Impact in the past, now figuring in the senior side.

Business is continuing to boom for Cragwood-based Impact, which has seen increasing demand for its specialist services both at home and overseas.

The company, which employs 200 people worldwide - 150 of them in Windermere - expects turnover to hit the £10 million mark this year, with profits in excess of £1 million.

Extra staff are being taken on at Windermere this month.

Much of the growth has been generated abroad, particularly in Japan, and Impact plans to open offices this year in France and possibly the United States, to help meet customer demand.

Last October the company was named top exporter in the North West in the Export Awards for Business competition, run by government-backed Trade Partners UK.

Closer to home, Impact has just clinched a major government contract with a Ministry of Defence agency which Mr Broom says will form a "significant part" of the company's activities this year.

And Impact took much of the credit for turning around the fortunes Northern League football side Murton AFC, dubbed Britain's unluckiest team after featuring in the BBC1 series Dream Lives last week.

Programme makers employed the latest science and technology, including a day of teambuilding work with Impact at Windermere, to help improve the team's results.

Now Impact staff are hoping England's cricketers will continue to stump the opposition on foreign fields over the coming weeks.