It's been a week since we left an increasingly
cold Ireland to travel to what we would regard as a very hot Thailand, though
we have been reassured repeatedly that this - mid 30s - is as cold as it gets
in Bangkok. Staying in this bustling city to play cricket is as far away from
visiting as a backpacker as I could have imagined.
The last time I was here was in 2006. My five
friends and I stayed in modest accommodation and regularly ate meals bought
from street vendors, a strict no no this time around as avoiding food poisoning
is much higher up the list of priorities than saving money is.
The shopping is just as good as I remember it,
if a bit more expensive, and the food hasn't disappointed yet. Most important,
the grounds we are playing at are pretty good. Yes, the wickets are sluggish
and the outfield a little slow with the ball plugging rather than kicking on
but there are pros and cons to playing in any country. Ireland hosted the last
version of this competition and though the outfields would usually run a bit
better and the wickets play a little truer, the rain played a huge role. At
least here the weather is not an issue, except the dehydration factor of
course.
The day after arriving we had our first training
session and every player finished the session relieved that we had a week to
acclimatise. Breathing is sometimes difficult and the heat makes maximum effort
difficult. It was a wake up call for our less experienced players in particular
as they have never had to play in this kind of heat before. Aaron (our coach)
put on a reasonably tough fielding and fitness session that day to make sure we
were operating at the top of our range and got the plane journey out of our
systems early.
The two warm-up games have been crucial to our
preparation. We played Scotland first and though we play them pretty much every
year it was like playing an entirely new team in these conditions.
Bowlers who usually skid it through moved it off
the pitch and spinners got every assistance from a helpful pitch. The combination
of a sticky pitch, slow outfield and high temperatures made batting difficult
so the game against the Scots was valuable in terms of getting to know the
conditions and tweaking game plans.
We had the day off on Wednesday in between our
two practice matches and the girls took the chance to pick up some of the
widely available fake designer handbags, sunglasses and watches. There's also
been a huge upswing in the number of loose, patterned trousers worn around the
tournament hotel in the last few days.
The next day it was back to cricket and another
warm-up game against the hosts. It was the first time we have ever played
Thailand and we kept them down to 72 in their twenty overs. Then our two
openers, Shillers and Ceil, got an opportunity to spend some time at the
crease, knocking off the runs in just under 13 overs.
None of the warm up games between the various
countries were high-scoring affairs with boundaries more difficult to come by
than might be expected in a T20 tournament so it feels like the team that bats
the best and adapts to the conditions will win this tournament.
Today was all about photos, meetings, sizing up
other teams at the opening ceremony and frantically checking and rechecking
gear bags to make sure nothing is left behind for the first real game day
tomorrow. We face the old enemy, The Netherlands, first up in what could be the
most important game of our group so it's game faces on and friendships on pause
for the time being.
Isobel Joyce
27/XI/15
27/XI/15
