On Thursday 12 September, Cricket Ireland announced the T20I and ODI squads for the upcoming series against the South African National Cricket Team and Test captain Andrew Balbirnie has been dropped from the T20I squad.
The Ireland vs South Africa series consists of a two-match T20I series and a three-match ODI series. Notably, the T20Is will be played on September 27 and 28 in Abu Dhabi, while the ODIs will be played on October 2, 4 and 7 in Abu Dhabi.
The biggest talking point that came out of the squad announcement was the removal of Andrew Balbirnie from the T20I setup. However, he has not been completely dropped from the white-ball setup as he is all set to open the batting for the team in the ODI series.
Apart from Balbirnie, all the T20I regulars including Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell and Harry Tector are part of the squad.
Under the leadership of Paul Stirling, the Irish team will try to achieve some magical victories over the Proteas team, who are notorious for losing matches against smaller teams.
The Irish team last played T20I cricket at the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, where they failed to win the group stages, losing to India, Canada and Pakistan, while their last international fixture was a one-off Test against Zimbabwe, which they won.
We will look to introduce a new dynamic, with Andrew Balbirnie out of T20Is this time around – Ireland manager Andrew White
In an official statement, Ireland national team manager Andrew White said they will enter a new cycle with the South Africa series and also spoke about the absence of injured players. He said:
“2026 and 2027 are crucial years for our white-ball teams as they are the next T20 and 50 overs World Cups respectively. Given the timescales, it means we are looking at this upcoming series against South Africa as the start of a new cycle. With that in mind, there are a number of selections and playing combinations that we will be looking at, although a number of non-cap players who were being actively considered, such as Morgan Topping and Liam McCarthy, are still recovering from injuries at the moment and could not be considered.”
Speaking about Andrew Balbirnie’s absence, White said that they want to try new things. Hence, the decision was taken to leave the captain out of the T20Is. He explained:
“One of the aspects we will be exploring on this tour is the batting order of our T20 team. We will be looking to introduce a new dynamic, with Andrew Balbirnie sitting out the T20Is this time around. There are only two T20Is in the upcoming series, but they will offer important opportunities as we look to raise our performance levels again. Andrew remains very important to us and will open the batting in the ODIs.
“The Ireland Emerging and Wolves tours over the last 18 months have been invaluable for the players but also in terms of our succession planning. We need to deepen our pool of international cricketers and for players like Gavin Hoey, he will come into the international arena with added confidence after his involvement in such fixtures and this is hugely important. The volume of international fixtures heading into 2027 is exciting and there will be opportunities for players to make their mark.”
Ireland Men’s ODI Squad:
Paul Stirling (captain), Mark Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Gavin Hoey, Fionn Hand, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Andy McBrine, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker and Craig Young
Ireland Men’s T20I Squad:
Paul Stirling (captain), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Fionn Hand, Matthew Humphreys, Graham Hume, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White and Craig Young