Wilson Preparing for a Big Week

8 February 2010

As the cold air and snow once again return to the UK, the warmer climes of the Middle East are preparing to host a big week in Gary Wilson’s cricketing life.

With qualification for the upcoming ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies the ultimate prize, Wilson’s Irish side will do battle with seven of the top Associate nations to be crowned Champion of the ‘second division’ of International Twenty20 Cricket.

After dominating the ICC Associate scene for the last four years, the Irish are reigning champions and will be hopeful of repeating their notably successful performances in recent 2007 ICC World Cup and last year’s ICC World Twenty20 in England.

As part of their preparation, the Irish side have dyed their hair a variety of lurid colours, with Wilson’s mop coming out of an attempted green dye a bright shade of turquoise! However, hair disasters will soon be forgotten if the young wicket keeper can look forward to a trip to the Caribbean in April and May.

Those who read the official Surrey website last week will be up to speed with the Irish’s inconsistent warm up performances, but, speaking to www.surreycricket.com today, Wilson said he was feeling confident of reaching the final and securing qualification for the West Indies.

“We won two and lost three of the five warm up games we played”, said Wilson. “We’re feeling pretty confident and personally I’ve had good quality time in the middle with the bat.

“We’re in a group with Afghanistan, Scotland and the USA and ideally we need to qualify first from our group to get into the Super Fours. In the Super Fours will meet the top two from the other group [which is made up of Kenya, Canada, Holland and the United Arab Emirates]. The top two teams in the Super Four will qualify for the final and the World Cup.

“We’re missing Boyd Rankin and Regan West, who are two big players for us and would definitely have played. However, it has given some of the other guys a chance and we’ve got a young left arm spinner in George Dockrell who’s averaging about six with the ball at the moment!”

To follow Wilson’s performances, check back to the official Surrey website every day this week.