Ireland have announced their 14-man squad for their upcoming Test match against England at Lord’s.
During their tour of England, Ireland will play a Middlesex 2nd XI at Merchant Taylor’s School in a two-day fixture on July 18 and 19.
After that, they face England at Lord’s for their third ever Test match as they aim to record their first ever Test win after losses to Pakistan and Afghanistan. The test match will go against recent tradition by being a four-day match running from July 24 to July 27.
From their squad for the Afghanistan Test Match, Barry McCarthy and Stuart Poynter both miss out as well as spin-pair James Cameron-Dow and George Dockrell.
The squad features some familiar names to County Cricket fans with William Porterfield, the former Warwickshire stalwart, captaining the Irish. Middlesex pair Paul Stirling and Tim Murtagh also feature in the squad whilst former England and Warwickshire pacer Boyd Rankin could face his former national team after making the Ireland squad.
The Ireland squad also features Kevin O’Brien who famously made 113 off 63 balls in a successful chase of 328 against England in the 2011 World Cup in Bangalore. He has made a solid start to his Test career with a second innings fifty against Afghanistan following a second innings hundred against Pakistan in Ireland’s inaugural Test match.
The Test squad sees four uncapped players in Craig Young, Lorcan Turner, Simi Singh and Mark Adair. It guarantees that Ireland, barring any late amendments to the squad, will field at least one debutant.
Chair of Selectors, Andrew White, speaking about the squad selection said: “We have stated all along that as Selectors we are looking for players not only in-form but displaying consistent performances, and I believe we have selected a squad that reflects this. It’s also a squad that balances experience and emerging talent, which is necessary in looking to the future in this format of the game. This may only be our third Test, but we have 11 more to play over the next three years and our two Tests to date have shown glimpses of the potential we possess.”
Ireland Test Squad in full: William Porterfield (captain), Mark Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Andrew McBrine, James McCollum, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Boyd Rankin, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Lorcan Tucker, Gary Wilson, Craig Young
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