NEWS
Follow UsShane Getkate, Graham Kennedy and Barry McCarthy have been left out of Ireland's final squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the UAE and Oman. However, the trio will travel with the 15-men squad as back-ups.
Ireland are currently in Dubai playing the UAE Summer T20 Bash 2021. Namibia, United Arab Emirates, Scotland and Papua New Guinea are the other four teams involved.
"It was always going to be a very difficult decision to reduce the squad from 18 to 15 - every player out in Dubai at the moment has proven their talent and deserved their chance. The three players who have missed out will still have a role to play in supporting the core squad, and stay on within the team bubble as cover in case of injury or illness," said the chair of the national men's selection committee, Andrew White.
"Part of the selectors decision-making was around the conditions in both Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, but we also factored in [Head Coach] Graham Ford's on-the-ground assessment of what he believes to be our most effective combination of players to win games of cricket."
"We are confident that the squad of players selected have the ability and the determination to take us into the next round of the tournament, but ultimately it will be about putting together performances that are deserving of it. We wish Fordy and the lads all the best for the challenge ahead, and we're sure they will do Irish cricket proud."
Ireland are in the same group as Sri Lanka, Netherlands and Namibia in the first round. They kick-start their T20 World Cup campaign with a match against the Netherlands on October 18 in Abu Dhabi.
As part of the build-up, they will play two warm-up matches - against PNG and Bangladesh - on October 12 and 14 respectively.
Squad: Andrew Balbirnie (c), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Kevin O'Brien, Neil Rock, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.
Reserves: Shane Getkate, Graham Kennedy and Barry McCarthy.
