Ireland have gone bold for next month’s trip to Bangladesh, naming five uncapped players in a 15-strong Test squad and welcoming fit-again quicks Mark Adair and Josh Little for the T20 leg that follows.
Adair (knee surgery in August) and Little (side strain) sat out last month’s T20s against England, so their return steadies Paul Stirling’s white-ball side ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup. Andy Balbirnie remains in charge of the red-ball group.
Test newcomers Cade Carmichael and Stephen Doheny strengthen the top order, Jordan Neill offers a pace-bowling all-round option, Liam McCarthy adds left-arm variety, and leg-spinner Gavin Hoey — capped in limited-overs cricket but not yet in Tests — is back in the mix. Ireland have won their last three Tests, though this is only the second time they will play a multi-match series.
“It is fantastic to have Test cricket on the horizon again – and with that we are excited to see Cade Carmichael come into the Test squad following his ODI debut against the West Indies earlier this year,” selector Andrew White said.
“Not only has he had a great season, but he has also demonstrated the qualities required to be an international cricketer in this format. Cade compiled an excellent century against Afghanistan A in a four-day match in the UAE earlier this year, and anyone watching his two ODI appearances against West Indies will have noticed his composure and his technical ability against quick bowling.”
White was equally upbeat about Doheny’s progress. “Stephen Doheny is another player who has had a good domestic season and demonstrated a number of technical changes that we hope will enable him to be successful going forward.”
With two back-to-back Tests scheduled, workload management feels inevitable. “It is likely that we will need all of our seamers across the back-to-back Tests. Given the recent number of injuries we have been managing, and the volume of cricket in the coming months, we will need to proactively manage the group in what will undoubtedly be hot and humid conditions. This is only the second time we have played consecutive Tests as part of a tour – it’s a challenge I know the squad will relish as they adapt to Asian conditions.”
The T20 squad is broadly unchanged from the England series, the main tweaks being the returns of Adair and Little and a call-up for batter Tim Tector. Neill and seamer Graham Hume miss out.
“In terms of the T20 squad, the likelihood is that spin will play a more prominent role – so Gareth Delany, Matthew Humphreys and Ben White are expected to provide options in this area. And with Mark Adair and Josh Little returning to the squad, Graham Hume makes way on this occasion,” White explained.
“On the batting front, the 15-player squad allows us to bring in Tim Tector while retaining Ben Calitz to give us middle-order depth.”
Squads
Tests
Andrew Balbirnie (capt), Curtis Campher, Cade Carmichael, Stephen Doheny, Gavin Hoey, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Liam McCarthy, Paul Stirling, Jordan Neill, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.
T20Is
Paul Stirling (capt), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Ben Calitz, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Matthew Humphreys, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Harry Tector, Tim Tector, Ben White, Craig Young, Lorcan Tucker.
Fixture dates are expected in the next few days; the Tests will precede three T20Is, all in Dhaka’s humidity.
