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James Shannon’s 2017 season with Instonians and Northern Knights has seen him deservedly travel to Bangladesh for the 6-match Wolves tour.
James Shannon flies to Bangladesh with the Ireland Wolves squad this week on the back of an outstanding summer with Instonians and the Northern Knights. An aim of his all season, Shannon is looking forward to the challenge ahead.

“At the start of the season I wanted to give myself the best chance of being selected if there was a Wolves trip, so I was obviously pleased that I was able to achieve that through my summer form,” Shannon said.
His form for the Knights was consistent throughout the summer, scoring 754 runs at an average of 53.86 across all formats. At times, particularly in the Championship, Shannon stood firm while wickets fell around him and he held innings’ together.

“My job is to bat for as long as I possibly can for the team so at times I batted knowing we were in some difficult positions and we needed an innings of substance from me as captain.

“However there were also times that the team and I were in good positions and I didn’t capitalise on it so this is something I will look to improve on in the future,” added Shannon.

Batting in the unfamiliar conditions of Bangladesh will certainly provide an opportunity for Shannon to challenge himself and build on his summer exploits. Leading the Knights across all three formats, Shannon was able to adapt his tempo from the Championship to T20 and scored over 100 combined boundaries and maximums throughout the year.

Shannon, and the other batsmen, will also have new batting coach Ed Joyce on hand throughout the tour of Bangladesh.

“It’s extremely beneficial that Ed is travelling with the group as a whole,” said Shannon. “He has a huge amount of experience batting all around the world so it will be great to have some batting conversations with him.”

Looking back on the 2017 season with Instonians and Shannon is seeing some younger players come to him for advice and guidance.

“On a positive note we exposed some young kids to first eleven cricket which will hold the club in good stead for the future and there were some decent moments,” he said.

“We struggled with availability and didn’t play enough consistent cricket to challenge for long periods of the season,” Shannon said of Instonians season.

James Shannon made a massive impression on the Irish summer of 2017 and deservedly travels with the Ireland Wolves to Bangladesh this week. He is determined to seize the opportunity before him but won’t be drawn into looking too far down the line.

“I’m not looking any further ahead than Bangladesh, it will be a tough place to play with the conditions, but something I’m really looking forward to,” Shannon concluded.

The Ireland Wolves leave for the 6-match tour against Bangladesh A later this week with the 4-day match, which opens the tour, beginning on October 11th.

Cricket Ireland
James Shannon on Ireland Wolves duty earlier in 2017 (c) INPHO/Stephen Hamilton
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