Ireland Men’s squad announced for T20I series against New Zealand

On July 4, Cricket Ireland announced the 14-member squad for the bilateral T20I series against New Zealand. The three-match T20I series will be played from July 18 to 22 at Stormont. 

Earlier, the board had already announced the squad for the 50-overs series, which will take place from July 10 to 15. 

There have been no changes in the squad that faced the Indian team in the last week of June. Ireland were beaten in a comprehensive manner in the first fixture, while they gave a tough fight to just fall short by four runs in the second game against India. 

The key contributors in the batting unit were Harry Tector and Andy Balbirnie, while Craig Young, Mark Adair, and Joshua Little were impressed with the ball. 

The experienced top-order batter Paul Stirling showed signs of coming to form after a knock of 40 off 18 balls. 

It will be interesting to see if the leading run-scorer of the Ireland T20 Cup Stephen Doheny gets his due opportunity in the series. 

Andrew White, Chair of National Men’s Selectors, has hoped that the players will display strong performances against the Kiwi team, like the one witnessed in the India series. 

“Naturally, the Selectors are backing the players that performed well against India – the high standards we sought were delivered upon, and we hope the squad can put in similar performances against New Zealand. The second T20I against India was a superb spectacle for the fans, but I know the coaching staff and players were gutted not to get across the line.

“The players should take great confidence from the past week, and we hope that this can lead to a greater consistency in performances. It would be fantastic to see the sporting public - young and not-so-young - come out in their numbers and support the team at Stormont.”

T20I Squad: Andrew Balbirnie (Captain), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Conor Olphert, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.