Lankan team gets new lead physio

The Sri Lanka men’s cricket team will have a new physiotherapist from the tour of India with former England men’s team physio Chris Clarke-Irons taking over for a two-year stint. The Sri Lanka Cricket on Sunday announced the appointment of Chris Clarke-Irons as Lead Physiotherapist of the national team with effect from January 1. 2023. Clarke-Irons, who holds a BSc (Hons) degree in physiotherapy from the University of East London and an MSc in Advanced Physiotherapy from Kings College, London, was the Head of Science and Medicine and also the Lead Physiotherapist of the Essex County Cricket Club, UK, before joining Sri Lanka Cricket, SLC informed in a release on Sunday. He also held stints with England men’s team during an ODI Tour of Australia and also functioned as the physiotherapist for the ECB’s senior men’s pace programme. Chris Clarke-Irons’ first official tour with the Sri Lanka national team will be the tour of India 2022-2023, which starts on Sunday for a T20I and ODI series. The three-match T20I series starts with the first T20I at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday, followed by matches in Pune (Jan 5) and Rajkot (Jan 7). The three ODIs will be played at Guwahati (Jan 10), Kolkata (Jan 12) and Thiruvananthapuram (Jan 15).