Mark Rausa has less than a week in Cardiff before he heads for Sri Lanka for his first tour as physiotherapist for the England Lions – and Glamorgan’s Head of Sports Science and Medicine is expecting a few travel tips from Head Coach Robert Croft to complete his preparations.
“Crofty’s going to sit me down this week and give me the lowdown,” Rausa said with a smile, after spending four days at the National Performance Centre in Loughborough last week for the Lions’ pre-tour training camp.
“It’s going to be a new experience for me and I’m really looking forward to it. The week at Loughborough was great, getting to know the players and coaches a little bit better.”
Rausa shouldn’t be short of advice – Dean Conway, now with Bangladesh, steered Mark into the fold at Glamorgan and he was a veteran of numerous overseas tours with England and England A, as the Lions were previously known.
And he is grateful to Hugh Morris, Glamorgan’s chief executive and another with plenty of experience of international cricket travel after his years with the ECB, for encouraging him to take this opportunity – even though it will mean missing some of Glamorgan’s pre-season programme.
“Hugh has been very supportive of me going away,” Rausa added. “It means I miss six weeks of our winter preparations but he sees it as an extremely good opportunity and career move. So I’ve had all the support I need from Glamorgan, whether from Hugh, Crofty or everyone else.
“I think it’s good for Glamorgan that we have a representative on the Lions tour, working with top coaches like Andy Flower and a group of some of the best young players in the country.
“Dean Conway will make sure everything is covered back at Glamorgan and I’ll be back by the end of March in plenty of time for the start of the season.”
Rausa’s appointment is also an endorsement of the quality of the off-field set-up at Glamorgan, as he came through a tough recruitment process after the opportunity had been offered around all 18 first-class counties.
The squad leave for Colombo next Monday (February 6), and play two four-day matches against Sri Lanka A in Kandy and Dambulla, followed by a five-match one-day series.