Cricket Ireland name 15-man squad for UAE tour

Irish cricket coach Phill Simmons has selected his 15-man squad to tour to the UAE this January. The tour is a warm-up ahead of February's World Cup in Australia, and Ireland will be playing four one-day internationals in Dubai, two against Afghanistan and two against Scotland. However, Ireland have not finalised their full World Cup squad, with submission for that not due until January. The 15-man squad contains six full-time Irish based players, with the remaining nine playing county cricket in England. Irish coach Phil Simmons says he has opted for a blend of youth and experience, as they deal with the retirement of Trent Johnston, and Boyd Rankin's switch to the ECB. “There is a nice balance to the squad, which has a huge wealth of experience, but also a few young guns. There are four players who have played in two World Cups (Porterfield, the O’Brien brothers and John Mooney) who have played 260 ODI’s between them. “There’s also nine of the squad who played in our record run chase against England in that never to be forgotten evening in Bangalore in the 2011 World Cup, so that’s a good omen. We are backing young Donemana spinner Andrew McBrine who particularly impressed in the New Zealand leg of the acclimatisation tour, but it’s very unfortunate for Andrew White that his finger injury came at such a bad time for him.” Ireland: William Porterfield (Captain) (Warwickshire), Andrew Balbirnie (Middlesex), Peter Chase (Malahide/Durham), Alex Cusack (Clontarf), George Dockrell (Somerset), Ed Joyce (Sussex), Andrew McBrine (Donemana), John Mooney (North County), Tim Murtagh (Middlesex), Kevin O’Brien (Railway Union), Niall O’Brien (Leicestershire), Paul Stirling (Middlesex), Stuart Thompson (Eglinton), Gary Wilson (Surrey), Craig Young (Bready).