Red Irish faces, and playing the unknown

Preparation for this ICC World Cup Qualifier tournament started at the end of the last World Cup, which was also in South Africa. But intensive training began once our squad of 20 was chosen in September.

To say that we were disappointed when the tournament was cancelled in November would be an understatement. All of our preparation was done with a view to travelling to Pakistan. Pakistani cricketers in Ireland spoke to us about conditions and traditions in their home country, and everybody altered their diets to prepare for the change there would be in available food.

Two of my brothers, Dom and Ed, have toured in Asia before and they were able to give me and my sister Cecelia an idea of what to expect, what food we should eat and what to bring with us. Not to be however, and training began again a few weeks after the tournament was cancelled.

We found it difficult training in the months when we did not know where and when we were going to be travelling. Our fitness instructor Rachel Ormrod welcomed us back to fitness every Thursday in the increasingly cold winter weather, and indoor nets got back into full swing.

I suffered a broken index finger on my bowling hand the weekend after Pakistan was cancelled, and the first thing my mother said? “That never would have happened if you were in Pakistan.” When I heard the tournament would not be until February, I was relieved, knowing I would be back playing in time.

Half of our current team played in the last World Cup three years ago, so we are more aware of what to expect this time round. Our assistant coach Thinus Fourie is also from South Africa, and so could tell us more about what we could expect.

Our training week went well, although there were a few tomato faces roaming the streets of Port Elizabeth for the first few days, and some interesting tan lines have started to form from sweat bands and the like. But now we have become accustomed to the heat, and are ready for the even hotter weather of Stellenbosch this week. The rusty edges on our fielding and throwing have been knocked off and we are confident that we are ready to play our first game on Monday.

We have played against four of the teams in this tournament before, and two of those are in our group – Pakistan and Scotland. Zimbabwe is the unknown quantity, but judging from reports of their progress they appear to be a confident side. We have not played Pakistan since this tournament four years ago, so it will be interesting to see what strides they have made in their cricket.

We will be keeping a close eye on the results of the other group as well as our own where there are two teams we have not encountered before – Papua New Guinea, and Bermuda. We would expect South Africa to do well in their group, and the Netherlands are always tough competition.

We wish the seven other teams participating in the Qualifier the best of luck in the coming week.