News

Ireland have spent the last two days in Harare preparing for their three match ODI series with hosts Zimbabwe which starts on Friday.
The majority of the squad arrived late on Sunday evening, with the rest arriving on Monday after being given permission to travel a day later to attend a wedding, one player in particular could not miss the day as it was his wedding!

With Harare close to 5,000 feet above sea level, and temperatures above 30 degrees the main focus so far has been acclimatisation and recovery after the long journey to Zimbabwe.

The squad did not practice on Monday, instead staying in the hotel to complete a strength and conditioning programme and pool recovery session led by Brendan Connor to help ease people to the altitude and stretch them out after close to 26 hours travelling to reach the hotel a day earlier.

Tuesday saw the side training at Harare Sports Club for the first time, with Dave Houghton working with the squad for the first time. Houghton has worked with some of the squad before in county cricket and is looking forward to working with Ireland in the coming weeks.

The side worked hard in the afternoon heat completing catching and throwing drills as a team before heading to the nets for a tough session with bowlers getting through around six to eight overs of bowling and everyone batting.

The altitude difference may not be drastic, but with around 3.5% less oxygen in the air there are slight changes to the way the ball moves in the air and of course, it is harder to catch your breath when training.

Today the squad trained again in Harare Sports Club, with a little more emphasis on fielding before another net session with high workloads again, before everyone will taper down tomorrow before Friday’s match.

This afternoon the squad will explore Harare before attending a welcome reception kindly hosted by the British Ambassador to Zimbabwe, at which representatives from the British, Irish and Zimbabwe governments will be present to welcome the squad.

Check back tomorrow and we will have a full preview of Friday’s match including exclusive interviews with members of the squad. If you want to follow the tour in more detail then please use our twitter account @irelandcricket – on which we will have pictures, updates and videos from squad members each day.

Yes
Connaught