T20 World Cup 2022: Cricket Ireland on Tuesday announced a 15-member squad that will board a flight to Australia for the T20 World Cup in October- November. The squad will be led by batter Andrew Balbirnie with opener Paul Stirling holding the deputy charge. Other than these two players, the 15-member squad features the likes of Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, and Simi Singh among others.
The Irish team becomes the 15th nation to name its squad for the marquee event as only Scotland is yet to name its' best pick for the tournament. Ireland will miss the services of Kevin O'Brien as the batter announced retirement from all forms of International Cricket last month. This will be the first major tournament for Head Coach Heinrich Malan.
"It’s an exciting time for Irish cricket as we embark on another major world tournament. Over the last year, we have been building a solid core squad, while creating more depth in our T20 cricket. I think fans have begun to see the positive strides the players have been making in T20Is - especially with the series win over Afghanistan - and we hope we can carry on this momentum into the tournament in Australia," Andrew White, Chair of National Men’s Selectors, said.
He added that this t20 World Cup is not the end point but a beginning of a new era. "We believe that this T20 World Cup in Australia is not an endpoint but the beginning of a new era. The age profile of this squad makes our future prospects very exciting, and after a season of eye-catching performances we have seen a greater level of interest in our players by teams in franchise tournaments around the world and that is a positive sign," White added.
Andrew White also threw light on the tough choices the selectors had to make in between some players. He said that George Dockrell and Gareth Delany have been good for the team this summer while there was a tough choice to chose between Simi Singh and Andy McBrine. Andy has missed out.
Ireland will depart for Australia on 29th September 2022 and will play warm-up matches against Namibia and Sri Lanka before kicking off their round 1 campaign. Ireland is in Group B alongside Scotland, West Indies and Zimbabwe. They will first play against Zimbabwe on 17th October.
Ireland's squad for T20 World Cup 2022:
Andrew Balbirnie (c), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Fionn Hand, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Conor Olphert, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.
