Ireland pace bowler Mark Adair previews their crucial ICC T20 Cricket World Cup clash with USA, the Florida weather could be a big factor.
Central Broward Regional Park, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Central Broward Regional Park, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
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00:00Okay, everyone, welcome to Ireland's pre-game press conference.
00:07We've got Mark Adair here.
00:08Thanks for your patience.
00:10Obviously a virtual press conference today with no trainings at the ground.
00:15So I guess, Mark, I'll ask you a few questions,
00:17then pass it across to the assembled media who are online.
00:20But firstly, can you give us an idea of what the team's been up to
00:24since your last game and what the feeling in the camp is ahead of this
00:27match against the USA?
00:30Yeah, we had a bit of a disappointing last game against Canada.
00:34Moved on from New York.
00:35I think there were two people happy to get out of New York.
00:38But, yeah, look, it's been a tough enough start for us.
00:46But, yeah, looking forward to getting stuck in for a lot of days
00:48if the weather plays well.
00:51Yeah, obviously pretty torrential rain yesterday.
00:56I suppose what was that experience like?
00:57And then going to the ground today and having a look,
01:00what were your initial thoughts?
01:03Yeah, actually, yesterday was strange even for someone from the Emerald Isle.
01:09Haven't seen that much rain in a long time.
01:11I think we broke a few records in Fort Lauderdale since 1947
01:15or something like that.
01:16But, yeah, I think the hotel looked after us really well.
01:19We all sort of piled in.
01:20We got a bit of a game dream going on
01:22and tried to keep each other occupied as much as we could.
01:25A lot of flooding and roads were closed and shops were closed.
01:28And, yeah, I don't think there were too many people keen to leave the hotel.
01:31But, no, at the ground today, it was actually remarkably dry.
01:34I think there was still wet passage over the far side of the ground.
01:36But, you know, considering what the place had been through 24 hours before,
01:41I think the place is looking pretty good.
01:44Yeah, I guess with that in mind and the fact that it's been, you know,
01:47pretty clear since this morning that you guys are preparing to play tomorrow
01:52and that's where your headspace is at?
01:56Yeah, I think that's all you can do.
01:58You get your head around tomorrow.
02:00Obviously, it would have been a bit more ideal to get a bit more time
02:04in preparation.
02:06You know, we had a couple of days off post-Canada
02:08and sort of get away from cricket and unwind.
02:11It would have been nice to be able to ramp things back up.
02:13But we've been working hard in the gym the last couple of days,
02:16getting our bodies ready.
02:17And, yeah, going in pretty fresh,
02:19going in with a pretty fresh state of mind as well.
02:22You obviously would have been following the USA's progress in this,
02:26you know, quite incredible run that they're on as the hosts
02:29in their first T20 World Cup.
02:31What have you made of that?
02:32What's that been like to be in America while the home team is
02:35turning a few heads?
02:37Yeah, it's obviously good for the game.
02:39I think we saw, you know,
02:41I went to watch the Miami Sharks play rugby on one of our days off.
02:46And, you know, you're hearing chatters about cricket
02:49in the stands behind you.
02:50And it's sort of something that, you know,
02:52that's something that we wouldn't have expected.
02:54And you certainly wouldn't expect to hear it in the stands behind you.
02:58But I think, you know, it's obviously good for the game.
03:00It's good for cricket in the USA.
03:02But hopefully we can put a bit of a halt to that tomorrow.
03:05Yeah, in terms of how the two teams line up,
03:08what do you think the keys are from an Irish perspective
03:11to playing the party poopers tomorrow and beating the hosts?
03:16It's a good question.
03:17I think, you know, they're a pretty well-balanced side.
03:19And they've got good guys on the bench as well,
03:21which is always a sign of a good side.
03:23But yeah, I think if the two sort of, for me,
03:27it would be if our ball line up and their ball line up,
03:30it's probably going to be who fires there.
03:32You know, I would like to say our batters are probably the stronger on paper.
03:38But, you know, those guys have come into form at a really good time.
03:43Yeah, they've obviously shown why they're doing so well.
03:46Very good.
03:47And just the last question from me before I pass it across
03:51to the journalists on the line.
03:53But just the experience, I guess, in general for you guys,
03:56being up in New York, being in America and now in Florida.
03:59And, you know, hopefully we do get a game tomorrow.
04:01But, you know, just in general, what it's been like to come here
04:04and take the game of cricket in the World Cup to the USA?
04:08Yeah, I think it's an interesting one because you arrive here
04:14and you're thinking now we're in New York, we're in Florida,
04:18it's going to be sunshine, it's going to be amazing.
04:21But, you know, Newark was pretty tough.
04:23I think, you know, the travel and stuff wasn't ideal.
04:28Obviously where we were staying in relationship to the city
04:31was good for us if you want to go exploring or be a bit of a tourist.
04:35But, you know, obviously not ideal, not seeing the ground in New York
04:39before the first game.
04:41Not ideal, but again, we moved.
04:44We're used to sort of doing things on the fly
04:48and just getting on with it, really.
04:50You know, unfortunately the results didn't go our way,
04:52but I feel like, you know, we're better poised
04:55to put in two strong performances here in Florida.
05:00Right. Thank you.
05:01Ian, do you want to potentially ask the first question
05:05before we open the floor to the rest?
05:08Yeah, I'll ask the first question.
05:10Hi, Mark.
05:12Just looking back at the Canada game, your bowling plans,
05:16obviously you started well, good power play
05:18and good excellent overs at the death.
05:21What do you think went wrong in the middle overs?
05:23What were the plans in the middle overs?
05:26I think the plans stayed pretty consistent throughout.
05:29I think it was hitting that sort of 68-metre length.
05:32We've talked about it a lot as bowlers.
05:34We've talked about it a lot as seamers, especially.
05:38You know, I actually don't think...
05:41You'd say the middle overs was probably more the tail end
05:45of those middle overs into the start of death overs,
05:47which, you know, we saw how they went about it
05:50and just tried to hammer away at the length.
05:53You know, from all us, we missed a little bit up top.
05:55We let them get away too early.
05:59Yeah, never really sort of put the foot down
06:02to really close that out.
06:06And in the batting, obviously,
06:09did you feel, well, while you and George were there,
06:14it was still game on, obviously.
06:16Just how were you left with just too much to do?
06:20No, I think if you'd asked me to get 17 rounds off
06:23the last over, I would have backed myself to do it
06:25and I was disappointed not to do it.
06:27You know, George is someone I've batted with a lot.
06:29I've got a lot of respect for the way he goes about his chases
06:32and setting totals, but he's a very calm figure
06:35and always pretty clear and concise about what he wants to do.
06:39I think that's a massive strength of his.
06:42You know, coming into that last sort of period
06:44where we were batting together, it was quite tough to get going.
06:47But once you did get going, you sort of feel like
06:50you could put them under enough pressure to make them miss
06:52and challenge their plans.
06:55We obviously need two big wins, obviously,
06:58to have any chance to qualify and then needing results
07:00to go our way.
07:02First objective, of course, is to win the match.
07:05We can't really worry about overrating us
07:07going into the game.
07:11Yeah, you know, I think for us, our objective
07:15is still to qualify for the next round.
07:17However we need to do that, I'm sure we'll be pretty clear
07:20leading into tomorrow how we need to do that.
07:24I think, you know, it's a fair point you made there
07:27about objective A being winning the match.
07:31But, you know, at the end of the day, we're not here
07:34to try and strip by teams.
07:36We're here to try and qualify for the next round.
07:38If that means that we have to go out there
07:41and put in a big performance with a bad handball,
07:44then so be it.
07:45I think that'll definitely be our mindset.
07:48Just finally for me, the US and Pakistan
07:51is that a surprise to you as to most people?
07:55Yeah, well, I think on paper you look at that
07:57and then you look at one of the more emerging nations
08:00and I think their growth has been massive
08:02over the last couple of years.
08:03We saw them put in a good performance against Bangladesh
08:06before the World Cup started.
08:08So obviously they put their marker down pretty early
08:11and, you know, they've come out here firing
08:13and they've done really well.
08:15You know, it's a fair play to them, but obviously
08:17you don't become a bad team overnight.
08:20I guess Pakistan may not have had the results they wanted,
08:24but I'm sure they'll come in
08:26for these last couple of games for them
08:28and certainly our last couple of games
08:30with still confidence and still looking to win.
08:35Thanks very much.
08:36Cheers, man.
08:39Caltech from Revelation here in Florida.
08:44Hi.
08:45I wanted to ask you about the conditions
08:48specifically in South Florida
08:50because New York had a special pitch condition, right?
08:54It was very challenging for you for both matches.
08:56Now you come here for two matches.
08:58The wet conditions may be something
09:00you're a little bit more used to,
09:02but at the same time, there are probably going to be
09:05some challenges with scoring at this venue.
09:08Yeah, I'm not really sure what the question was,
09:12but I think you summed it up pretty nicely.
09:15Yeah, like I think the playing away from home
09:19is never easy.
09:20I don't think you get used to it at any stage
09:22unless you're away for, you know, long periods of time.
09:24You play lots of games.
09:26I think it's been pretty clear that New York
09:28was a tricky surface to bat on,
09:31but there's still guys who went out there
09:33and played really well.
09:35But there's still guys who went out there
09:37and did pretty well.
09:40I think bad bowling and wherever that comes,
09:44it's going to be easy to bat on.
09:46I think Florida is slightly different,
09:47or South Florida is slightly different.
09:50We've played here before.
09:51We had a warm-up match here against Sri Lanka,
09:53which is always good.
09:54The pitches look different, again,
09:56to the last time we saw them when we were here.
09:59But no, looking forward to the challenge.
10:01I think the ball swings a little bit more down here,
10:04whereas we didn't have the same swing
10:08or movement in the air that we did off the pitch
10:11up in New York.
10:13You spent a week here two weeks ago training.
10:17I had a couple of warm-up matches.
10:19Does that prepare you for this ground?
10:20Do you feel more comfortable with this venue, perhaps,
10:23as a result of that?
10:25Yeah, absolutely.
10:26I think any time you get to see the ground
10:29and play out there before you actually,
10:32you know, have to come up in a World Cup game
10:34is important.
10:35We played against each other here a few years ago
10:40during COVID.
10:41A few games have rained out,
10:43but they were actually COVIDed out,
10:45I think is the term.
10:47But yeah, it's something that we're a little bit
10:49more familiar with here.
10:50We're a bit more familiar with Florida already,
10:52and yeah, we're excited to get back out there.
10:56Cool.
10:57I think unless there's any other questions there,
11:00we can thank you for your time, Mark.
11:03Cheers for jumping on today, and good luck tomorrow.
11:06Thank you very much.
11:07Cheers, boys.