Ireland announce squad for one-off Test against Zimbabwe

DUBLIN – Ireland Men’s 14-player squad for the Test Match against Zimbabwe at Stormont, Belfast next week has been announced as the Irish team seeks a first-ever Test win on home soil.

A historic Test win in Abu Dhabi earlier this year gave Ireland Men their first-ever such victory in only their eighth match. Next week’s fixture will be the first Test Match ever played in Northern Ireland and only the second Test Match in Ireland – the inaugural match was against Pakistan in 2018. 

IRELAND MEN’S TEST SQUAD

Andrew Balbirnie (c), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gavin Hoey, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, James McCollum, PJ Moor, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.

National selector, Andrew White on the squad selected:

“We have a pretty settled squad for this Test match just on the back of obviously winning the previous Test against Afghanistan. While there are lots of familiar names in there, I suppose the two names that stand out are the inclusion of Matthew Humphreys and Gavin Hoey. 

“Humphreys made his Test debut in Sri Lanka and found the going difficult against good players of spin out in the subcontinent. He'd admit himself that he went through a period of a loss of form and maybe a loss of confidence, but he's worked extremely hard to come back into the reckoning and his performances for Ireland Wolves have been exactly what we were looking for. Obviously in the West Indies last year for Emerging Ireland, then in Nepal, and has now backed it up in the recent series for the Emerging Ireland side against West Indies Academy, where he took 10 wickets. But it's the consistency he has shown over the last period which has been really pleasing and he very much deserves his call up. 

“Hoey is a talented leg spinner, and his ability to spin the ball both ways gives us a strong wicket-taking option. Again, he’s a player that's been on the radar for a while and can play across all three formats. But this is an opportunity for him to come into the Test squad and get used to the environment.”

On the upcoming Test match: 

“On the back of our first victory [against Afghanistan], we’re definitely looking to back that up with another win. We're not looking to just pick a squad that will compete, we're looking at a squad that can actually win the Test match - by taking 20 wickets and scoring the runs that we need to score arguably in the first innings to set up the victory.

“Scott Irvine, our performance analyst, is one of the best in the business in terms of providing myself, the coaches and players with the crucial information that we need to make decisions. The information he has given us to select the squad puts us in an informed position, and will hopefully give us the best chance of winning.”