How did Stephen Doheny earn a recall? - Ireland selection notes

Batting coach Gary Wilson breaks down Ireland's selection decisions for next month's tour of Bangladesh

Stephen Doheny has been recalled to the Ireland squad.

More squad news, more talking points.

Last week, Ireland confirmed the two groups they’ll take to Bangladesh for a pair of Tests and three T20s. There were very few, if any surprises in either squad.

As expected, with an opening batting slot free after PJ Moor’s retirement, Cade Carmichael looks to be in pole position for the job after a maiden red ball call-up. Stephen Doheny, though, could well offer some competition after his name was included. Given it had looked like selectors moved on from the Merrion man - not least because he was one of six players not to have their part-time contracts renewed over the winter - his inclusion is the closest we have to a surprise in this red ball group.

Gary Wilson, Ireland’s batting coach, was put up for press after last week’s announcement. In what hopefully will be a regular segment on this site, the former wicketkeeper offered his thoughts on why Ireland selected in the way that they have.

Here are all the talking points heading into next month’s tour.

Doheny is back - why?

If the cause célèbre of Leinster cricket Twitter is to decry the international hiatus of David Delany, pointing to Stephen Doheny’s lack of caps is second on that list. The Rush native has never really struggled for domestic runs, continually an excellent club player and a solid interpro option, but he hasn’t cracked it at international level.

In 2023, he was dropped after a run of three T20s and nine ODIs in the space of five months. He passed 50 just once in that span - 84 in a 50-over game in Zimbabwe. After a difficult series against Bangladesh in Chelmsford, Doheny was dropped, a technical flaw cited as the reason.

Two ODIs against South Africa last year did lead to an opportunity but Doheny failed to fire, Ireland struggling when the nipping ball under lights tore through their line-up. Earlier this year, the Munster Reds opener went on the Wolves tour to the UAE. He scored 29 in the red ball game against Afghanistan before notching scores of 32, 31 and 46 in some of the white ball games.

“The feedback for Steo [Doheny] was to go away and score hundreds,” explains Wilson. This summer, Doheny hit three centuries on the domestic circuit. A memorable, record-breaking knock in a T20 down in Cork, another century in a 50-over interpro before he passed three-figures in the Emerald Challenge against an attack featuring Tom Mayes, Craig Young, Matthew Humphreys and Andy McBrine. Starts were turned into statements.

“We asked him to go away and put some big numbers on the board and he’s done that,” says Wilson. “Whenever you give a player a goal it’s important to reward that with selection.”

Technique was also something that Doheny was told to work on at the start of this year, akin to when he was dropped in 2023. Wilson won’t be drawn on specifics but confirms that improvements have been made. “I think it would be unfair for me to go out in the press and start talking about a player’s technical deficiencies and what they are, but suffice to say we’ve seen a significant improvement over particularly the last 12-18 months in a few areas of his game where we feel he’s better set,” he says. “Hopefully that opportunity comes for him sooner rather than later.”

In Bangladesh, Doheny will provide top order cover and serve as the back-up wicketkeeper. On paper, the Warriors’ Sam Topping could have also filled this role given the year he had. In his first year back in Ireland since leaving Sussex, Topping scored more runs than Doheny (304 vs 235), had a higher average (61 vs 47) and scored more hundreds (2 vs 1) in the 50-over interpros. However, Topping missed out on the Emerald Challenge due to having tonsillitis. There, Doheny scored an impressive hundred and took his opportunity.

“He would have been in contention definitely,” says Wilson on Topping. “We’re really pleased with the way he played throughout the summer. For someone to be selected, though, someone has to be left out. We felt at this stage that, for Steo, he was the one who deserved the selection more at this particular juncture.

“That’s not to say Sam can’t or won’t play in the future. I personally believe he is going to be a serious player and I have no doubt he will play for Ireland at some point in the future.”

What is Carmichael’s ceiling?

There is little doubt that Carmichael appears Ireland’s best option to become the new red ball opener. He is a player who came to Ireland with a good reputation having worked with previous head coach Graham Ford prior to travelling over from South Africa.

His ODI debut against the West Indies earlier in the summer didn’t lead to a glut of runs but Carmichael looked ready for international cricket. Especially when dealing with a barrage of short balls from Alzarri Joseph. In the 50-over interpros, Carmichael finished as the second top run scorer (behind Andrew Balbirnie), had the second highest average (86) and made the joint most hundreds (2). He looks to be a player with a very high ceiling. If it weren’t for a concussion suffered while playing club cricket, he too would have gotten an opportunity to impress at the Emerald Challenge.

“I don’t want to put too much pressure on him, but he’s got all the attributes,” says Wilson. “Not necessarily technical attributes, though he does have those as well, but his calmness, belief in himself, quiet confidence, he has all the tools to succeed in international cricket. He fully deserves his call up. I don’t want to put tags on how high he can go, but I rate him highly.”

Gavin Hoey will make his Test debut

After failing to feature in any international cricket during the home summer, it looks like Lightning leggie Gavin Hoey will make a red ball bow in Bangladesh. “It’s great to have someone like Gavin Hoey in for his first taste of a Test match,” says Wilson. “I know he was in the squad for Zimbabwe and Belfast, but I think there’s a good chance he could get some cricket in Bangladesh given the venues we’re playing at.”

Mark Adair’s fitness

Ireland’s main all-rounder won’t play in either Test as he continues to recover from knee surgery. He will be fit for the T20s as Ireland continue to prioritise that format in a World Cup year. “While he may have been ready for the second Test, with what’s coming on the horizon we felt it was better to get him into the T20s,” explains Wilson.

Interpros bite back

When Ireland last announced a squad for the England T20 series, selectors received criticism for appearing to ignore interpro form. Tim Tector, the country’s best domestic T20 batter for three years now, was dropped. Doheny didn’t get a look despite his run of form. David Delany continued to be overlooked despite arguably the best interpro campaign of his career.

Instead, Ben Calitz was picked for a middle-order debut on the back of good, if not stellar form. Ross Adair kept his place after a tricky campaign for the Northern Knights. Jordan Neill came in as the back-up all-rounder for the injured Mark Adair with just six overs of professional T20 bowling under his belt.

This time around, domestic form seems to be all the rage. Doheny is included after three hundreds during the summer. Carmichael also gets a look after his campaign backed up a good Wolves tour in the spring. Tim Tector also comes back into the T20 fold with Ireland now up to a 15-man squad after carrying only 14 for the England games in Dublin.

“Every time in selection there’s more than one factor in play,” says Wilson. (While Ireland’s batting coach does have an influence particularly when it comes to batters, he is not a selector.) “It’s weighing up form, the attributes they have, the skillsets you desire, and what you think is going to be required whenever you’re out there.

“If a player had done really well at interpro cricket but we feel like he’s currently unlikely to succeed at international cricket, if there’s a better option then we would go down that route. Similarly if a guy has shown bits and pieces in domestic cricket but we feel he has the attributes to succeed in international cricket over a period of time, maybe not initially, then we will go down that route. It’s not just one particular thing.”

Which is to say, in the case of someone like Doheny, clearly good domestic form hasn’t been married with the attributes for the international game - according to selectors. Now he has a few more hundreds to his name, plus his mysterious technical flaw has been worked on, his attributes match up to what is desired. The weight of runs no doubt helps as well.

Similarly, Ben Calitz didn’t have the same domestic form as the likes of Tector and Doheny, but selectors clearly like the attribute of his left-handed hitting against spin. There are examples of both averages and attributes in this selection, whereas for England it was primarily the latter.

Ross Adair

Turning more towards the T20 squad with this one. Against England, Adair’s power was on display atop the order. In both games, though in the first outing the boundary count was paired with a high dot ball percentage. Adair appeared to be an all or nothing option. Ireland batted very well after the powerplay but a sluggish start inside the first six ultimately held them back. Adair’s scoring upside is huge - something which was improved upon in game two - but is it worth the risk of dot balls killing momentum?

“In a powerplay, as a general rule it is going to be more boundary-dot,” explains Wilson. “We have worked a lot on single options particularly when it’s closer into the body and the hip. Ross has improved no end in that regard. I think he would be the first to admit in the first game he got tied up a little too much but I sympathise, there was that rust there. That’s only to be expected, especially the way he plays.

“Ross has come so far in the last, say 3.5 years, since he really started to give this [professional cricket] a go. The progression tells me there’s so much more to go. He’s probably played 15 games now, he’s probably won two of those games for Ireland and done pretty well in others. He got 65 against Zimbabwe and we ended up winning that game [in January 2023]. He obviously got that hundred against South Africa. I think that’s a pretty good return for a guy who plays the way he plays.

“Sometimes you have to take the rough with the smooth because if he gets in and has his day, he kills a team. Obviously we would love him to be more consistent, that is something he’s going to continue to work on. If we want someone to rotate the strike better we’d pick someone else. We pick him for one reason and that is to go out and kill teams. Some days it won’t come off, we have to accept that as a team and just know that we have to get him better at other areas: ball striking, when the ball is at his hip, when there’s movement in the air. But we still want him to have that explosive power and take games down.”

Timmy time?

As mentioned, Tim Tector is back in the squad. This after he was dropped despite his Leinster Lightning form. He played two T20s for Ireland this year, one against Zimbabwe where he had the pads on to open with Paul Stirling only for the rain to intervene, while the second saw him bat out of position in the middle order against the West Indies.

At home, Ireland only picked 14 players for England. Tector therefore was an easy call-up if needed (especially given he plays his golf at Portmarnock, where the players stay when playing at Malahide). Travelling as far as Bangladesh, Ireland now need more cover. It also helps that, as the travelling team, CI doesn’t foot the bill for the 15th hotel room.

“I really, really felt for Tim when he missed out on selection,” says Wilson. “A lot of the time when a player misses out, you understand and can see it coming, you know why. In this instance, Tim probably felt that he had done enough.

“He’s the next in line to cover that top three spot, but we knew Ben Calitz hadn’t played. Tim was involved against the West Indies, brought in as middle order cover when we had no Campher, no Delany, Calitz had just had his appendix out, there was a huge void in that middle order and we brought in Tim and Steo [Doheny] to help with that.

“But it isn’t really his strength. His strength is maximising that powerplay, finding space, he annihilates the short ball. It’s a bit like trying to fit a square peg into the round hole, getting him in the middle order.”