Cricket Ireland on Thursday named five squads as they embark on historic trips to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Playing all three formats in Bangladesh, Andy Balbirnie’s side then move south to play in the two longer formats against Sri Lanka.
Peter Moor, a former Zimbabwe international wicketkeeper batter who qualified for Ireland, has been picked for both Test squads. Moor has previous experience playing in Bangladesh, having scored 63* and 83 on a visit there in November 2018. All five sides include fellow wicket-keeper and batter Lorcan Tucker, who had a breakthrough performance at the T20 World Cup last year.
On the red-ball front, Ireland have 10 potential debutants in the squad, with coach Heinrich Malan seeing the matches as “a blank canvas”.
“We’re not going to try and play like anyone else, we’ll play our own way and that is the key message within our environment at the moment. We want our guys to go out there and figure out how we best play red ball cricket – it’s not that we need to block or play essentially T20 cricket,” Heinrich Malan said in a statement released by Cricket Ireland.
“We have a group of players who like to play an aggressive style in white-ball cricket that people like to watch, but in red ball it’s finding that balance. It’s about playing what’s in front of you – the pitch, the opposition, the scoreboard. But these aren’t different conversations we’ve been having around the T20 or one-day realms,” he added.
Paul Stirling’s exclusion from the team was a “mutual agreement” between the coaching staff and the right-handed attacker, making it probably the most shocking roster choice.
Stirling will now focus his efforts on white-ball cricket across domestic tournaments and international play, with Malan citing Stirling’s well-being and workload.
“This year, with a big white ball focus in terms of a pinnacle event in the World Cup, we got to that sort of agreement that up until the World Cup, he will only play white-ball cricket for us,” said the Ireland coach Malan.
“And in the same breath, (he will) get a little bit of a balance from a wellbeing point of view with him missing some of that Test cricket, which again, it creates some opportunities for some of the lads that we want to see in there,” he added.
Matthew Humphries, who won the Under-19 World Cup, advances to the senior setup and is chosen for all five squads.
Malan believes that his distinctive bowling abilities as a left-armer give the team a competitive edge.
“He was the go-to guy in that environment. He bowled every phase, showed that he’s a competitor, showed that he can take wickets. I guess when you look at it from that point of view, he’s got all the traits and the attributes that we’re looking for. Hence putting him in a wider squad environment where hopefully he gets some game time at some stages,” Malan added.
“But also, we are working back from some pinnacle events when you think about where the T20 World Cup’s going to be in 2024, in the West Indies and in America, that those sort of surfaces are going to assist that sort of skill set,” he said.
Ireland’s first-ever full tour to Bangladesh will see them play three ODIs and three T20 Internationals before the tour concludes with a one-off Test in Mirpur.
The first tour is to Bangladesh where it will feature a warm-up fixture on 15 March, then three one-day internationals, three T20 Internationals and a Test Match. This will be the first-ever Test Match played between the two sides, and the first multi-format series the two sides have played at senior level.
The second tour to Sri Lanka will feature a Test Match and two one-day internationals. Similarly, this will be the first-ever Test Match played between the two sides, and the first multi-format series the two sides have played at senior level.
The squad will depart Dublin on 11 March.
Ireland squad for Bangladesh ODI series: Andrew Balbirnie (C), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker and Ben White.
Ireland squad for Bangladesh T20I series: Andrew Balbirnie (C), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Barry McCarthy, Conor Olphert, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White and Craig Young.
Ireland squad for Bangladesh Test Match: Andrew Balbirnie (C), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Murray Commins, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, James McCollum, PJ Moor, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker and Ben White.
Ireland squad for Sri Lanka Test Match: Andrew Balbirnie (C), Curtis Campher, Murray Commins, George Dockrell, Matthew Foster, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, James McCollum, PJ Moor, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker and Ben White.
Ireland squad for Sri Lanka ODI series: Paul Stirling (C), Curtis Campher, Murray Commins, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Matthew Foster, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Andrew McBrine, Conor Olphert, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker and Craig Young. (ANI)
