DUBLIN—Aiming for their first-ever Test victory at home, the Ireland Men’s 14-player roster for their Test match against Zimbabwe in Stormont, Belfast, next week has been revealed.
In just their eighth match, Ireland Men achieved their first-ever such victory earlier this year with a historic Test victory in Abu Dhabi. The match next week will mark only the second Test Match played in Ireland (the first being against Pakistan in 2018) and the first Test Match ever played in Northern Ireland.
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:
“After clearly winning the previous Test match against Afghanistan, we have a fairly established squad for this one. Even if there are many well-known names there, I believe that Matthew Humphreys and Gavin Hoey’s inclusions stick out the most.
After making his Test debut in Sri Lanka, Humphreys struggled to keep up with the skilled spin spinners on the subcontinent. Although he has worked really hard to regain his form and confidence, he would freely confess that he had a spell of poor form and possibly even confidence. His performances for Ireland Wolves have been precisely what we were hoping for. Evidently in the West Indies for Emerging Ireland last year, followed by Nepal, and he has since supported it in the most recent series for the Emerging Ireland team versus West Indies Academy, where he claimed ten wickets. He definitely deserves to be called up, though, because of the consistency he has showed over the past several games.
“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:
We are undoubtedly hoping to build on our initial success [against Afghanistan] by winning again. Choosing a team that can win the Test match by taking 20 wickets and possibly scoring the necessary runs in the first innings to secure victory is our goal, not merely fielding a competitive team.
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