Cricket Ireland have announced a full strength squad for the final round of ICC Intercontinental Cup Championship against Scotland from Nov 29th – Dec 2nd in UAE.
The four-times winners welcome back Niall O’Brien, Paul Stirling and George Dockrell from the squad which drew with The Netherlands in Dublin in August. They replace John Anderson, Nathan Smith and Jack Tector in a 14-man squad announced for the match. Ireland are lagging behind Afghanistan by 12 points and only a outright victory with bonus points for 1st innings lead with see them open a gap against them. Although, Afghanistan will also be in action at the same time against UAE in their final I-Cup match.
“We want to finish the competition strongly,” said Ireland captain, William Porterfield. “The I-Cup has been traditionally a great competition for Irish cricket and there have have been some memorable wins along the way.”
Ireland Intercontinental Cup Squad:
William Porterfield (Captain), Ed Joyce, Andrew Balbirnie, Niall O’Brien, Paul Stirling, Simi Singh, Kevin O’Brien, George Dockrell, Jacob Mulder, Tim Murtagh, Boyd Rankin, Peter Chase, Gary Wilson & Barry McCarthy
The Irish will also play Afghanistan in a three-game ODI series in Sharjah after the conclusion of their I-Cup clash and Porterfield realizes the matches will be an important step towards Irish preparations for next year’s World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe, that too, under a new Head Coach in Graham Ford.
“These games will be massive with everyone out to impress new Head Coach Graham Ford who takes over from John Bracewell after the Afghanistan ODI series..
“With only two places available it’s going to be incredibly tough in Zimbabwe, but these matches will allow Graham to start to put his own plans together for the squad.”
