News

DUBLIN – Cricket Ireland today announced a new tour for the Ireland Wolves in February 2020, and confirmed the first round of Emerging Player Contracts for 2020.
The Ireland Wolves is a team created in 2017 to bridge the gap between domestic first-class and international cricket. In recent years, the squad has toured Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as well as achieving remarkable List A wins over two visiting full member teams at home in 2019. The concept of the Wolves is to provide competitive international-standard cricket for fringe senior players, as well as provide the opportunity for development of younger talent coming through the international pathway system.

The newly announced tour is to South Africa to play Namibia in an eight-match multi-format tour between 18 – 29 February 2020, with 19 players participating in the tour.

The squads for the tour are:

T20 Squad
Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, Stephen Doheny, Jonathan Garth, Shane Getkate, Tyrone Kane, Josh Little, Nathan McGuire, Jacob Mulder, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Stuart Thompson, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.

50-over Squad
James Cameron-Dow, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Shane Getkate, Tyrone Kane, Josh Little, James McCollum, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Jack Tector, Gary Wilson, Craig Young.

The fixtures

• 18 Feb 2020 – 1st T20 v Namibia; 2nd T20 v Namibia
• 21 Feb 2020 – 3rd T20 v Namibia
• 24 Feb 2020 – 4th T20 v Namibia; 5th T20 v Namibia
• 26 Feb 2020 – 1st 50 over match v Namibia
• 27 Feb 2020 – 2nd 50 over match v Namibia
• 29 Feb 2020 – 50 over match v Northern Titans Invitation XI

Matches will be played across two grounds at SuperSport Park in Gauteng and Irene Villagers Cricket Club Ground in Pretoria.

Peter Chase (studies) and David Delany (returning from injury) were not considered for selection for this tour.

Andrew White, Chair of National Men’s Selectors, said:

“The importance of the tour, and indeed the timing of the tour, cannot be underestimated. With the volume of international cricket we will play this year – and with a T20 World Cup in October – we need to continue to build a wider pool of 20 plus international players who are ready to cover all areas of our senior team, as well as use the opportunity to provide invaluable touring experience to some of the younger players within our pathway system.”

“Injuries and form fluctuations are a natural part of the game, and the Wolves squad provides an insurance policy against unplanned gaps in our senior international side, and create a greater depth of talent that we can call on.”

“The Wolves is not an Academy side, it serves a very different purpose, and – like many other Full Members – we use the Wolves programme to not only blood new talent for succession planning, but also provide players on the fringes of the international side competitive game time. Apart from these obvious benefits, what the Wolves also provides is the opportunity for younger, emerging talent to gain valuable exposure to touring life, or training and playing alongside experienced internationals. We can only make that step up from club cricket to international through programmes like this.”

“With the squad, we are also looking ahead to the start of our home season, the three ODIs against Bangladesh in May are the start of our World Cup Super League participation – effectively, the start of the qualifying campaign for the next 50-over world cup. So this tour will give a number of contracted players, or even players who have just been on the tour to the Caribbean, but who have not had much game time, some valuable match practice. We need them firing and competing for those senior spots, or as match-ready cover in case of first-team injuries.”

Pete Johnston, Head Coach of the Ireland Wolves, said:

“This tour will be another exciting challenge for the Wolves. Namibia really impressed during the T20 World Cup Qualifiers in November and our senior side had to dig deep to defeat them in the 3rd/4th place play-off, with both sides qualifying for the T20 World Cup itself.”

“While Namibia would go into this series as favourites on paper – especially considering the games will be played in more home-like conditions and on pitches that they are more accustomed to, the majority of the Wolves squad selected have experienced success against big opposition, and therefore come into the tour with confidence and belief.”

“If we continue to work hard on all aspects of our game, and adapt quickly to conditions, then anything is possible. Another benefit of this trip other than the opposition, will be playing and training at a fine international ground like SuperSport Park, and even Irene which is also a very good pitch with pace and bounce.”

“This Wolves squad offers the ability to play a very dynamic and exciting brand of white-ball cricket, which bodes well for our depth and future.”

EMERGING CONTRACTS

Following a successful introduction in 2018, Cricket Ireland today announced its Emerging Player Contracts for the 2020 domestic men’s season. Three players to have been awarded Emerging Player Contracts in the first round of offers:

• Peter Chase
• David Delany
• Josh Little

Further Emerging Contracts may be offered in coming months.

Craig Easdown
Harry Tector in action for the Ireland Wolves
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Connaught