Ireland have announced their 15 member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup which will be co hosted by India and Sri Lanka. The tournament is set to run from February 7 to March 8. Paul Stirling has been named as the captain for the main event and 12 members of the 15 announced for the mega event featured in its previous edition as well, with new additions such as Tim Tector, Ben Calitz and Matthew Humphreys to the squad. Overall they have a well balanced unit.
The upcoming World Cup will be Ireland’s ninth appearance at the tournament with the best performance coming in the years 2009 and 2022 when they qualified to the second round wherein they also defeated former champions in West Indies and England. Ireland National Men’s selector Andrew White is looking forward to an improved version of the team in a highly competitive tournament. “After a memorable 2022 tournament, we probably weren’t at our best in 2024 – and have been waiting to rectify that ever since.” He said.
Ireland are in placed in the group with Sri Lanka, Australia, Oman and Zimbabwe at the World Cup. Their opening match will be against Sri Lanka in Colombo on 8 February. All four of their group stage matches will be played in Sri Lanka as the side look to improve upon their winless showing at the tournament in the USA two years ago that included a shock 12-run defeat by Canada. Before the World Cup next month, they will face Italy three times and the UAE twice in a series of warm-up fixtures between 23-31 January.
Squad: Paul Stirling ©, Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Ben Calitz, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Matthew Humphreys, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Harry Tector, Tim Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young
