Cricket:Wicket-keeper Niall O'Brien has been left out of the Irish squad for both the upcoming tour to Kenya and the World Twenty20 qualifiers in the United Arab Emirates in March after taking up a playing position in the Bangladesh Premier League.
The Northamptonshire player was auctioned for €62,000 to the Khulna Royal Bengals last week, with the competition clashing with the dates of the Kenya tour.
O’Brien was willing to fly to Mombasa for the two 50-over World cup qualifiers on February 18th and 20th, but the selectors stuck to their line that players must be available for all parts of the tour.
Surrey wicketkeeper Gary Wilson will now become the senior wicket-keeper in the squad, with Instonians’ Rory McCann providing the back-up.
Speaking about the decision to not select Niall O’Brien, Ireland coach Phil Simmons admitted that it was a difficult situation for the selectors, although the door was not shut for his future involvement.
“There were difficult matters for the selectors to discuss regarding Niall O'Brien’s availability. They took on board Niall’s offer to play in only the ODIs in Kenya, join the squad for part of the South Africa camp, and then the ICC World T20 Qualifier,” said Simmons.
“However the selectors remained consistent to their principle, regarding that all players must be available for all parts of the tour. Niall was not able to make himself available for the whole tour and therefore the selectors have decided not to select him for any part of the tour including the ICC World T20 Qualifier.
“We are only selecting for this tour and the next selection will be for the RSA Challenge ODI versus Australia in June; at that point they will consider all available players.
“Niall has communicated that he still wishes to play for Ireland and the selectors will take that into consideration when they next meet.”
IRELAND SQUADS
For Kenya tour: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, wkts), Kevin O'Brien (Railway Union), Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire), Max Sorensen (The Hills), Paul Stirling (Middlesex), Albert van der Merwe* (YMCA), Andrew White (Instonians), Gary Wilson (Surrey, wkts).
*Albert van der Merwe will only play in the Intercontinental Cup match and Nigel Jones will join the squad from the Febuary 15th to take part in the ODIs and T20s.
Additional players for training camp in South Africa and ICC World T20 Qualifier in the UAE:Andrew Poynter (Clontarf), James Shannon (Instonians).
