‘Red-ball skills are transferable into ODI cricket’ - Ireland batting coach Gary Wilson on improving technique ahead of World Cup Qualifiers

Ahead of the One-off Test against England, Ireland batting coach Gary Wilson expressed that the team is working on their red-ball technique which can help in their ODI Qualifiers to obtain a potential spot in the forthcoming World Cup in India.

For the unversed, Ireland are yet to make a spot in the 2023 ODI World Cup and will play the Qualifiers, slated to begin on June 18. However, Ireland batting coach Gary Wilson stated that their focus in the upcoming One-off Test against England will, in turn, aid them during the ODI qualifiers.

"Technique isn't as important in white-ball cricket as it is in red-ball cricket. But at the end of the day, it's still a ball, whether it's white or red. Even though white-ball cricket probably does take precedence, just by the nature of the fact that we've got two qualifying tournaments and hopefully a World Cup [coming up], red-ball cricket is a really good platform to hone your skills. And those skills are transferable into [ODI] cricket. There's still room for having a real good solid technique,” Wilson was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"We obviously haven't played any domestic red-ball cricket for a few years now. But we identified back in January that we needed to do some red-ball practice, maybe once a week, and really commit to looking to improve our technique as well, because, with white-ball cricket, you play on generally quite flat pitches,” he added.

Notably, the Irish side will head to Zimbabwe for the ODI World Cup Qualifiers and will play their first match against Oman on Monday, June 19 in Bulawayo. Prior to the main event, Ireland will engage in two warm-up matches against the USA and the Netherlands on June 13 and June 15, respectively. Notably, 10 teams are part of the World Cup qualifiers so as to clinch the final two places in the mega ODI event in India, scheduled to be played in October.