ENG vs IRE | Harry Tector makes it to 14-man shortlist as Mark Adair misses out
Ireland have announced a 14-member shortlist for the first ODI against England, adding the likes of Curtis Campher and Harry Tector to the list while excluding Mark Adair from the 14. From the trimmed 22-member squad, eight players will stay on as reserves in the bio-secure bubble.
The first ODI between England and Ireland will kick-start the Cricket World Cup Super League to determine participants for the 2023 Men's World Cup in India and Ireland seem to be duly prepared for it. The Andrew Balbirnie-led side has a fantastic mix of youth and experience with the bull’s eye strongly on their back.
While allrounder Curtis Campher has been picked in the 14-man shortlist, Harry Tector will join him in the final bubble but unfortunately, underfire Mark Adair has failed to make the cut. Campher has played one List A game and three T20s while Tector has featured for Ireland in 20 international T20s. Speaking of the selection, Andrew White, the chair of national men's selectors, said players were picked on the basis of their form in the two warm-up games as well as the form before the Coronavirus epidemic.
"These ODIs are not only a great opportunity for our squad to test themselves against the world champions but are extremely important in the context of qualification for the 2023 Cricket World Cup. Every player in our squad is lacking game time as a result of the lockdown, so the two warm-up games gave the players an opportunity to gain their first competitive action since early March and there were some very positive performances on display over those two matches,” White said.
"However, our deliberations on selection took into account not only those two warm-up games but also form shown earlier in the year before lockdown. In addition, we also took into account that we have a larger squad here than would be normal, so we decided on a side for the first game only at this point. This means that the eight players who miss out on this playing squad may still have an opportunity to feature in the series.
"Many players on this trip can consider themselves unfortunate to miss out in the first matchday squad, including our leading wicket-taker in 2019, Mark Adair. As fans are aware, Mark underwent surgery earlier this year, and while that was successful, it has unfortunately meant that he is not yet back to the level that we need him at for international cricket. We know that he isn't far away, but we also need to recognise that Sunday's game was his first competitive outing since the Caribbean in January."
All the matches will be in Southampton, with both the sides playing their first game on July 30. The remaining two games will be played on August 1 and 4 respectively.