Ireland name ODI squad

DUBLIN: Ireland have announced their squad for the one-off ODI against England on May 3 and for the first half of their tri-series involving Bangladesh and West Indies.

William Porterfield will once again lead the side, while the 14-man squad includes two players yet to make their ODI debuts in Lorcan Tucker and Josh Little.“We have been delighted to watch the continued improvement of Josh Little and Lorcan Tucker — both of whom will now be in the running to make their debuts in One-Day International cricket,” said Andrew White, Ireland’s chair of national men’s selectors.

“Josh gives us that left-arm pace variation and he has continued to impress with some consistent performances — we believe he can transfer his T20 skills into the One-Day arena.

“As for Lorcan, fans of Irish cricket have seen some stellar performances by him over the first few months of the year, most notably in Sri Lanka and La Manga. While he has been on our radar and around the senior squad in recent times, we’ve started to see greater confidence and consistency in his approach, and he is definitely one of those putting his hand up at the moment.”

Long-serving wicketkeeper-batsman Gary Wilson has been recalled after missing Ireland’s Afghanistan tour due to suffering from a medical condition that affected his vision. He has currently played 99 ODIs and is in line to play his 100th.

Ireland will name their squad for the second half of the tri-series in due course.Squad: William Porterfield (captain), Andrew Balbirnie, George Dockrell, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, James McCollum, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Lorcan Tucker, Gary Wilson.