G Dean: Irani in punishing route to full fitness (11 Jul 1998)

11 July 1998

Irani in punishing route to full fitness

By Geoffrey Dean

ASK the Essex captain, Paul Prichard, to assess the value of Ronnie Irani to the side and he will tell you that the big Lancastrian is as important as Stuart Law; that Irani has bowled better this season than ever before; that he has played some crucial innings this summer; that his never-say-die attitude rubs off on the rest of the team; that he is a captain's dream.

Irani is one who revels in the big occasion, who loves a challenge and who will be cajoling the best out of his team-mates in today's Benson and Hedges Cup final. His role will be a central one, No 4 in the order and first-change bowler.

With the ball, in admittedly helpful conditions, he was superb in Essex's last two finals, returning figures of 12-5-25-3 against Lancashire in the NatWest Trophy in 1996 and 12-3-29-1 against Warwickshire a year later. Then, he had played only after a desperate mission to Munich in midweek to seek the best treatment for all bowlers' bte noire, a rib muscle injury.

Irani puts his improvement down to sheer hard work in the winter: hours in the nets with Keith Fletcher and Geoff Arnold, and a near-masochistic training schedule drawn up by Frank Dick, the athletics coach. This was supplemented by kick-boxing.

His disappointing tour with England to Zimbabwe and New Zealand was the "knock" that pushed him to reappraise his career. "Getting injured in Zimbabwe was a nightmare - my back was giving me a lot of pain there. Really, I wish I'd come home but I stayed on and eventually got fit but by then Craig White was top of the pecking order.

"I had a decent season with Essex, but at the end of it, I asked myself what I wanted out of my life. Did I want to carry on as a good county cricketer or did I want to do a bit more? I sat down with Frank last autumn in his house near Crystal Palace and told him I wanted more, to help Essex win trophies and try and get another chance with England."

As he had a day job in the winter, selling damp-proof building materials, Irani put himself through umpteen 6am starts to fit in Dick's 30-hour weekly programme. A personal trainer, Lawrence Sandum, ensured he followed it.

"After some stamina work, we concentrated on specifics for cricketers really - back, upper body strength and a lot of speed work. None of this running up mountains or anything like that. The martial arts was important as it's competitive ... you don't just want to be a big lard in the gym."

In April, the physical programme that he says has made so much difference was wound down to be replaced by complete concentration on the technical side. "I'd had two or three net sessions per week through the winter, with Fletch on the batting and with 'Horse' [Arnold] on the bowling, which we needed to bring on. He said there wasn't much wrong with my action but that one or two things needed modifying, such as the position of my head. It's certainly helped. As for the batting, I've improved my concentration levels a lot and don't just go out to try to smack it."

Prichard thinks Irani has put on pace this year, probably because of the fitness work. "His control's better but he's a genuine wicket-taker. Generally, he's just matured although he hasn't got the amount of wickets that he's deserved. He hits the seam a lot. He's a quality all-round cricketer, a definite match-winner who has pulled some games out of the hat for us in the past year or two. A great team man, too."

What Prichard says has surprised him since Irani's arrival from Lancashire has been his attitude and his temperament. "We knew he could play but his professionalism has been outstanding.

"You'd always want a bloke with his attitude in your side. I'd put his unhappy England tour down to being a learning experience. He's bounced back and it's made him a better player now. If that tour was coming along this winter I think it'd be a different story. His maturity would stand him in better stead."

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)