Hicks' Australia 'A' ready for tricky conditions

Hick says his team had a good one week before coming here and that the players are geared up for the challenges ahead now.

Australia 'A' coach Graeme Hick during a training session.

Former England cricketer Graeme Hick, now coach of the Australia 'A' team in the Quadrangular Series one-day championship which gets underway on Sunday after the first two days were washed out because of wet ground conditions, believes that his team has a lot to play for.

For someone who was seen interacting with the players at the nets at Mulapadu on Saturday, Hick says his team had a good one week before coming here and that the players are geared up for the challenges ahead now.

“We missed a day or two because of the inclement weather but which again we cannot control. Hope to get into the action tomorrow,” an optimistic Hick said.

“Yes, we do hope to come up with some plans for the matches here. It is going to be good cricket for the next 10 days as the teams featuring here are very strong in many departments,” he said.

“It is nice to get a feel of the wickets. We always expect to win though we are conscious of the fact that it is a huge challenge to play here. But, I feel the one-day wickets are pretty good and not as quite as the typical sub-Continent wickets,” Hick felt.

“We have to wait and see and definitely expect the wickets to take more spin in four-day games. That will be the real challenge of playing here for everyone,” the 52-year-old, Australia 'A' coach said.

Reflecting on the team, Hick feels “the guys have lot more give off. They practice well, nice group of young talent, lot of them look happy in the environment they are going through their job. I am sure they are ready for the challenges ahead,” he said.

“Definitely, the presence of Ryan Harris and Sri (former India player S. Sriram and now spin mentor of Australia) is vital as they can always impart valuable knowledge of the game having played a lot here to these young cricketers,” he said.