Ashes: World Cup-winners England in no mood to slow down, appoint Marcus Trescothick to coaching setup

Former England opening batsman Marcus Trescothick will be a part of the World Cup-winners' coaching staff during the first two Tests of the Ashes series against Australia starting August 1.

The 43-year-old Trescothick will be overseeing England's training sessions for the first two games scheduled to be held in Edgbaston and Lord's respectively, media reports stated. The former opener played 76 Tests for England and is best remembered for being the second-highest run-getter at the 2005 Ashes series behind Kevin Pietersen. He was named a Wisden cricketer of the year that same year.

Trescothick has been roped in to assist England's chief batting coach Graham Thorpe, who is nursing a sore shoulder and missed the team training on Tuesday due to illness.

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Before the prestigious Ashes series begin, England will play a historic Test match with Ireland at the Mecca of cricket the Lord's Cricket ground.

The Irish men's side only made their Test debut last year, suffering a final day defeat by Pakistan in Dublin in a creditable display before being well beaten by fellow newcomers Afghanistan. Since the turn of the century, Ireland has become known for their one-day exploits, beating the likes of Pakistan (2007) and England (2011) at World Cups.

However, Test status was always the dream. Now this match at Lord's is set to be the highlight of Ireland's year given they did not qualify for the reduced 10-team World Cup won just over a week ago by tournament hosts England in a thrilling final against New Zealand, which also took place at 'the home of cricket'.

The match will only last a maximum of four days rather than the standard five, a consequence both of being shoehorned into the narrow gap between the end of the World Cup and the start of England's five-Test Ashes series against Australia next month and a desire by officials to experiment with 'spectator friendly' playing hours.

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