Cricket Ireland on Saturday announced a 14-player squad for the men’s One-Day International series against New Zealand, scheduled to be played from July 10 to 15 at Malahide. The three-match series will be part of the ICC World Cup Super League, with 30 crucial points up for grabs. Ireland also handed maiden call-ups for two of the North West Warriors squad – top-order batter Stephen Doheny and bowling all-rounder Graham Hume. Both players were recently handed retainer contracts by Cricket Ireland.
Andy Balbirnie will captain the 14-man squad. Of the players who were part of Ireland’s most-recent 50-over engagement, a 2-1 series win in West Indies in January, William Porterfield has recently retired, while Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock and Ben White were omitted.
Ireland will lock horns with New Zealand in three ODIs at Malahide between July 10-15, with points for the World Cup Super League on offer. They will then play a T20I series against the same opposition in Stormont.
Andrew White, Chair of National Men’s Selectors, said: “Taking on the world’s number one ODI side will always be a challenge, but with 30 World Cup Super League points on the line, this series becomes even more significant. One-day cricket is the format we have performed most consistently in over the last few years, and despite the age profile of many in the squad is young, they have gained some important experience in recent times in finding ways of winning against top sides.”
“With the recent retirement of William Porterfield, we’ve called up Stephen Doheny into his first ODI squad. Stephen has impressed coaches and selectors with his stroke play and is now starting to convert starts into defining and match-shaping innings’ at the inter-provincial and Wolves levels. His form has warranted his call-up to both white-ball squads and we wish him well,” he added.
“It’s likewise pleasing to see Graham Hume get his chance in the ODIs after repeated seasons of consistent form while he qualified to play for Ireland. Hume has demonstrated his accuracy and ability to extract bounce and movement in home conditions – we are hoping his knack of prising out early breakthroughs will translate to the higher level,” White said.
Ireland squad: Andrew Balbirnie (C), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Graham Hume, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker and Craig Young.
