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LONDON – Ireland Men’s cricket team held their first training session at Lord’s Cricket Ground ahead of the Test match starting Wednesday – wicketkeeper-batsman Gary Wilson and Head of Physiotherapy Mark Rausa shared their thoughts.
Speaking after a solid 30 minute session batting in the nets, Wilson said:

“Yeah training today was good – it was the first time we’ve been here in a while. We had two good days at Merchant Taylor’s [a warm-up match] which was a good run out. A few guys had time in the middle and for the bowlers it was about getting some overs in the legs. But it’s nice to finally get here to Lord’s and get to know the conditions and facilities – and for those guys who haven’t played here before they’ll find the slope fairly interesting.”

Asked about the expected hot conditions:

“It might have an impact on the wicket in that it might dry it out as the game goes on. I guess we’d rather have good weather than poor rainy weather!”

Asked about being part of the first Irish squad to play a Test at Lord’s:

“In my generation I don’t think any of us expected to be playing a Test match at Lord’s, so to have the opportunity is great. But we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that we have to come here and perform as well. I mean that’s what it is about, it’s not just turning up and having all the fanfare around Lord’s, we have to try and put in a good performance against a very good England side, but we’ve got some good players as well and we’re confident we can do that.”

Asked about the relatively short timeframe between the Zimbabwe white-ball series and the Test match:

“I’ve had a lot of time in county cricket going from format to format, and you just learn it is something you have to do. I guess there’s enough miles in my legs now to know if you haven’t hit a red ball for a while you don’t suddenly forget how to hit one. We’ve got a good opportunity now with three days practice and so it’s just about fine tuning.”

ONE MINUTE WITH: We grab a minute with @gwilson14 at training at @HomeOfCricket. #BackingGreen pic.twitter.com/w802htQOBG

— Cricket Ireland (@Irelandcricket) July 21, 2019

Mark Rausa, Head of Physiotherapy and Medical Services, was asked about preparing the players for the expected hot conditions:

“In warm conditions you’d be surprised how quickly the players can overheat out in the middle, so education is key with the squad. Some of these guys are experienced enough to know how to keep themselves cool – things like suncream, sunhats, covering their arms if they’re out in the middle. The afterwards we tend to get the guys into ice baths or ice towels – just wrapping them up in cold towels can help get the core temperature down a bit if they’re overheating. It’s knowledge that we’ve built up over the years touring countries like Sri Lanka and India.”

“It’s a bit of a challenge especially with the batters, who can be out in the heat a long, long time. They can sweat a lot and begin to cramp, so we have to get on top of that as soon as they come back in.”

“Our tour of India in a way, you could say, is good preparation as we can take a lot of what we learnt there here.”

Ireland has two more training sessions at Lord’s before the start of the Test match at 11am, Wednesday 24 July 2019.

Gary Wilson in the nets at Lord’s
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