Test cricket is my favourite format, hard to look past the history and prestige of it: Matthew Humphreys
Humphreys made his debut in 2023.
As Ireland Men get ready for their T20I series with South Africa Men on Friday, Matthew Humphreys spoke in between his preparation. He spoke about a lot of factors regarding the upcoming series, his preparation, and his personal growth over the years.
You’ve experience bowling in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and West Indies with Emerging Ireland, what sort of challenge will this now pose in the UAE?
It's a tricky one, it's quite hard to predict how the pitches will play here, but you would imagine there will be some assistance for the spinners. It's a case of trying to work out what's happening and adapting quickly. That's something that comes from experience and playing in those different environments should hopefully help with that.
Travelling with Chris Brown, Ireland Men’s spin coach and a group of spinners on tours when the wickets spin, what’s that like? How does that group dynamic work preparing for matches? Do the spinners in the squad discuss and help other spinners?
Yeah Browny has been great, the difference he has made since starting has been pretty clear to see. It can be hard going from training on seamer friendly pitches or indoors at home, to having to take on more of the workload in spinning conditions, but we always band together well and try to work out what's going to work wherever we are. It's nice having guys with different experiences also, George has wealth of knowledge and Whitey has had a good bit of success in the T20 stuff recently so he's always passing on advice.
You've played all three formats for Ireland - do you have a favourite format? How does your game change from format to format?
Maybe a bit of a boring answer but it's definitely test cricket for me. Hard to look past the history and prestige of it. But white ball cricket is a great challenge in its own way too. Something is always happening and you're often on the back foot as a spinner so you need to be comfortable dealing with that as well.
What's the difference between the Matthew Humphreys that made his debut 18 months ago and the Matthew Humphreys of today?
The obvious answer is the consistency piece but for me it’s having more revs on the ball and better control over my seam position. Then you have the ability to challenge batters through the air or off the pitch (and hopefully both).
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