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Andrew Balbirnie spoke exclusively to Cricket Ireland TV as Ireland’s batters completed a three-day batting camp ahead of their ICC Inter-Continental Cup fixture with Papua New Guinea.
Returning to Dublin for a couple of days before flying out to Australia for that match, Balbirnie took part in the camp, which was run by Assistant Coach Pete Johnston with the support of Team Manager Chris Siddell, along with six teammates.
Surrey County Cricket Club were extremely hospitable hosts for the group, allowing the team access to the indoor hall and gym at the KIA Oval for the duration of the camp.
Each of the players will now head to Australia having already spent three days working together as a group.
Balbirnie spoke about the importance of the camp, especially given the time of year.
“It went very well, most of us haven’t hit balls since before Christmas so to get the chance to all come together before we go on tour to hit balls, red ball scenario, white ball scenario is key”
Starting the week with drills and quickly moving into batting scenarios the group spent more than six hours hitting balls and preparing for what will be a very busy three months.
Conditioning work was also a big part of the week, with strength and conditioning coach Brendan Connor providing a tailored programme for the players to help prepare them for the tour.
Under normal circumstances the squad would spend the first couple of days on tour working in a similar way to this week, so with the bowlers arriving in Brisbane yesterday to get a head start, the batters really appreciated the time in London.
“It’s nice to get it out of the way before we get on tour so we can hit the ground running, a lot of time on tour is acclimatisation and getting used to hitting balls again, so to be able to get the miles in the legs as such before we go away is great.”
The batters will fly out to Brisbane to join up with the rest of the squad on Sunday, with a warm up match in Brisbane a few days later before travelling to Townsville for the Inter Continental Cup match with Papua New Guinea on January 31st.
Staying in Townsville after that match, the squad will then play in three T20 matches against PNG before heading the Abu Dhabi for a further week to continue preparations for the upcoming ICC World T20.
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