Belfast: Ireland have announced their squad for the first Test against New Zealand, with four uncapped players as they prepare for the historic match starting on May 27 at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Stormont.
Jake Egan, Tom Mays, Liam McCarthy and Ruben Wilson are new faces in the squad, while a number of senior players have been ruled out due to unspecified injuries.
Paul Stirling, Barry McCarthy, Jordan Neill, Gavin Hoey and Josh Little all miss out with fitness concerns. Captain Andy Palbirnie will once again lead the team. He is the only player to have featured in all of Ireland’s previous 12 Tests.
Egan, a 32-year-old Perth-born all-rounder, brings experience from domestic cricket and comes in strong form after scoring a century in his only first-class game and scoring 120 for the Strikers in the Emerald Challenge earlier this week.
Mayes, 25, is a bowling all-rounder who played five first-class matches and contributed with both bat and ball in the same tournament, taking six wickets and scoring 25 runs.
Liam McCarthy, 24, is a South African-born bowling all-rounder who has qualified for Ireland in 2021. He has taken 19 wickets in six first-class matches and has already represented Ireland in four white-ball internationals.
Wilson, 19, is the youngest member of the squad and the least experienced, with 12 List A and 13 T20Is to his credit and one first-class appearance.
Stirling and Hoey featured in Ireland’s most recent Test XI against Bangladesh in Mirpur last year, while Barry McCarthy played in Sylhet in the first Test of the series.
The match will mark the second Test in Belfast, following Ireland’s win against Zimbabwe in 2024.
Ireland Squad for New Zealand Test:
Andy Balbirnie (c), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Cade Carmichael, Stephen Doheny, Jake Egan, Matthew Humphreys, Tom Mayes, Andrew McBrine, Liam McCarthy, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Reuben Wilson and Craig Young.