Ireland's Test squad - exciting new blood or boring familiarity?

Selectors probably strike the right balance between phasing in new talent and rewarding familiar faces

📸: ACB

As the Labour Party knows, sometimes it’s all too easy to call for change.

Unlike the UK after years of Conservative rule, though, Ireland’s red ball team isn’t fundamentally broken. It can’t be when you’ve already won 50 per cent of the Test matches you’ll play in a calendar year.

Still, the call for change, for fresh blood, is hard to resist. Particularly when pondering selection for a format which, for frustrating reasons, is still a novelty to Irish punters.

Which is why reaction to Ireland’s squad for their upcoming Stormont Test against Zimbabwe, announced on Wednesday, has been mixed. There are some fresh faces. Matthew Humphreys is back in 18 months after a difficult start to his international career. Gavin Hoey, the Pembroke and Trinity leg-spinner, is also included as one of three front line slow bowlers. Picking Humphreys, at this stage, was necessary if only to preserve player faith in the pathway to international cricket. The Hoey call, though, is a particularly fun, unexpected one.

Hoey has had his admirers for a long time. His story is pretty cool, considering he hasn’t bowled leg-spin for all that long. Only a stress fracture in his back as a teenager caused him to stop bowling seam up.

Hoey doesn’t have the same weight of wickets in recent months as Humphreys. He doesn’t have First Class 10fers. Instead, he is case in point of how Ireland have been selecting in recent years with no consistent red ball structure.

In England, much has been made of their “attributes over averages” selection policy. Gus Atkinson was picked for Lord’s last week not because of his County Championship record, but rather his ability to move the ball laterally at high pace. He took 12 wickets in his debut Test against the West Indies.

England go for “attributes over averages” because, for the most part, County Championship pitches don’t replicate the flatter, faster surfaces found at international level. Particularly in Australia, which is all England are focused on until the next Ashes.

Ireland also use this selection ploy, but for different reasons. While England have a County Championship and other domestic competitions, Ireland still go without regular First Class cricket or white ball interpros which come close to replicating the top level of the game. When Gavin Hoey shows he can spin the ball both ways and not lose his radar in the way plenty of wrist spinners do, that’s mostly what matters. Not his record - which isn’t exactly bad in any case.

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“Given the lack of red ball cricket, the attributes piece is something we’ve got to look at,” said Ireland’s top selector Andrew White. “When you talk to some of the senior players who play with Gavin and face Gavin, the likes of Paul Stirling was impressed.

“As a leg-spinner, he is going to leak more runs than a finger spinner at this stage of his career but it’s the ability to take wickets and spin the ball both ways that’s the exciting part.”

Hoey is unlikely to play against Zimbabwe next week, one would suspect. Humphreys is marginally in better form and, despite a Test match average of 61 runs conceded per wicket taken, there is a strong argument that Andy McBrine is one of Ireland’s seven best red ball batters. It seems unlikely they will go with three out-and-out spinners.

That’s the fun part. The more boring, less exciting element of this Test squad is the makeup of the seam attack.

With no Josh Little - who, in an interview earlier this week, explained that he is not looking at red ball cricket until the end of 2025 - Ireland lack pace. Their battery of military medium seamers were brutally exposed on a flat-ish Lord’s track last year. A friend observed that Ollie Pope, who scored a double hundred in that game, couldn’t believe the pace (or lack thereof) Graham Hume was offering him.

That is harsh on Hume. But there had to have been a conversation about his place in the squad given the form of Liam McCarthy.

Liam McCarthy in action for Munster Reds. 📸: Cricket Ireland

A Jo’burg native, McCarthy qualified for Ireland on residency in June. He’s not rapid, but he has significantly increased his pace in the last two years. He was a net bowler at the Pretoria Capitals - coached by Graham Ford - in 2023. That summer, he came back and, while his first ball of the interpro year down in Cork nearly went for five wides, the pace of the delivery made everyone in the Mardyke take notice.

Given the other three seamers in the squad, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy and Craig Young, all operate in that 78-83 mph range, there had to have been a discussion about picking the quickest bowler currently playing red ball cricket in Ireland, just to offer some variation. 11 wickets in his last three First Class games, including three in the recent intersquad match, suggest McCarthy has form to back up his pace attribute. A figure close to the squad says McCarthy offers a “point of difference” (a phrase all too familiar to Irish fans).

No dice.

‘Cowards’ cry journalists on their keyboards. Pick the quick. Why not? It’s a one-off Test. Get the new lad in the squad at least.

“Liam has impressed,” acknowledged White. “There’s no doubt he has that wee bit of extra pace. He’s skiddier than some of the bowlers we have, it’s still early days. The bowlers that are in contention for the starting XI are guys that have performed over a period of time and they’re in pole position at the minute.”

Once we all calm down, there is method in the conservative (with a small c) madness. Young, Adair and McCarthy all performed well in the last Test against Afghanistan. They will likely form the pace trio, with Campher and two spinners in tow.

Unlike Ireland’s spin attack, the seamers did not struggle for wickets in the UAE. Which is probably the simple enough reason we see change in one department and not the other.

Matthew Humphreys recently took 10 wickets in a First Class match against the West Indies Academy. 📸: Cricket Ireland

It’s good to see Ireland recognising that McBrine and Theo van Woerkom combining for one wicket across two innings in the last Test simply isn’t good enough from your slow bowlers. Even if van Woerkom is no more as far as Irish selection is concerned, selectors deserve some credit for taking the brave route and opting for the two young lads who they think will most likely take wickets.

They could have gotten even more credit, though, had McCarthy found a way into the squad instead of Hume. White’s point about incumbents bowling well only goes so far. Hume’s bowling average in three Tests is over 100. A small sample size, granted, but what attributes has he shown? Length control and the ability to move the ball in helpful conditions, sure, but there are three other seamers in the squad who do that. And they’re all quicker.

For what it’s worth, after Matthew Foster was identified as a future Test bowler and picked (without being capped) in the last red ball squad, he may have a bone to pick as well, given his demotion. This isn’t just a case of falling in love with the quicker bowler.

Ultimately, it probably isn't worth quibbling this much about the back-up seamer slot (provided Adair has fully recovered from injury). Some regularly criticise Ireland for overly-conservative selection decisions. Plenty wanted them to throw plenty of new faces into the mix. They have landed in between the two extremes. It could be argued that this is a sensible, balanced position for a rare home Test which they are desperate to win.

McCarthy’s time will come. Young is aged 34 and has a history of injuries, while Hume is 33. The seam bowling stocks will need to be replenished in the not too distant future.

Of the youn’uns, at least one of Hoey and Humphreys will get their opportunity at Stormont next week. In a bid to plug clear attribute deficiencies in the squad, this selection doesn’t go as far as it could, but it’s more progressive than what we’ve seen in the past.

Fools like me want everything to be fixed immediately. Maybe I’m watching too much of England who, when in doubt, just go with the sexier pick (#bazball). Irish selectors clearly favour a more phased approached to change. The right method likely falls somewhere in between.