Ireland name cricket squad for World Twenty20 qualifiers

As expected, Niall O’Brien, the star of some of Ireland’s most notable cricket successes in recent years, has been omitted from the squad for next month’s ICC World Twenty20 qualifying tournament in the United Arab Emirates.

O’Brien had made himself available for this month’s tour of Kenya in order to concentrate on his commitments in the Bangladesh Premier League.

The Irish cricket team selectors had indicated at that point that O’Brien would not be chosen for the trip to the UAE, when Ireland are scheduled to play seven games between March 13-24.

The Dubliner’s brother Kevin – the scorer of that mesmerising century against England in last year’s 50-over Cricket World Cup – is named in the 14-man squad, which includes 12 players who were on duty in India in 2011.

Rory McCann is named as O’Brien’s replacement as wicketkeeper-batsman, with Ed Joyce, Trent Johnston, Paul Stirling and Boyd Rankin other notables.

But there is no place for Tim Murtagh of Middlesex, who represented England at underage level in the past before switching allegiance to Ireland.

Murtagh and Albert van der Merwe have been placed on standby.

After those wins over Pakistan and England in recent years, it’s fair to say that the opposition facing Ireland next month is of the second-tier variety, with games against Scotland, Namibia, Oman, Uganda, Kenya, USA and Italy.

Yes, apparently Italy have a cricket team, and they’ll be pleased to know that in this sport you can actually score by diving.

There are two places at stake at the Twenty20 World Cup, which takes place in Sri Lanka in September.

Ireland cricket squad: William Porterfield (Warwickshire) (captain), Alex Cusack (Clontarf), George Dockrell (Somerset), Trent Johnston (Railway Union), Nigel Jones (CSN), Ed Joyce (Sussex), John Mooney (North County), Rory McCann (Instonians), Kevin O'Brien (Railway Union), Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire), Max Sorensen (The Hills), Paul Stirling (Middlesex), Andrew White (Instonians), Gary Wilson (Surrey).

Replacements: Tim Murtagh (Middlesex), Andrew Poynter (Clontarf), James Shannon (Instonians), Albert van der Merwe (YMCA).