Winners and losers from Ireland Wolves' tour of Nepal
How did the individual Irish players fare during a rare oversees tour for the country's second string outfit?
If you don’t count last year’s Emerging Ireland games in the Caribbean, Ireland Wolves’ recent tour of Nepal was their first oversees trip since heading to Namibia in 2022. It was, by all accounts, a success. There were lots of positives off the pitch with sizeable crowds taking in the matches, not to mention plenty of social media coverage of charitable trips undertaken by the Irish players.
On the pitch, there were a pair of series wins in the T20s and 50-over games vs Nepal A. The 2-0 defeat to the Nepal senior side at the beginning of the tour took some of the initial shine off proceedings, but there was enough individual promise to show the value of these trips for prospective Irish talent.
That said, we probably shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves, even if there were centuries and 5fers. Ireland should really be winning most games at this level against second string associate opposition. It’s also worth pointing out that, in previous Wolves campaigns, Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker scored centuries against a Sri Lanka A side featuring a lot of senior caps for a full member nation.
The barometer of success on a Wolves tour, therefore, should be quite high. Against an associate second string, Irish players need to be dominating to force themselves into senior contention. No one player probably can say that they were dominant, but there are still a number who advanced their causes and, if only marginally, improved their standing in the eyes of the Irish coaches.
Winners
Stephen Doheny
It’s easy to include the man who scored a century in the final match, but that knock capped off a tour that started well, tapered off in the middle before improving in dramatic fashion at the end. He was the only batter who did any sort of damage in the games against Nepal’s senior side, recording scores of 46 and 26, the latter coming at a strike rate of 200, showing an intriguing power element. He also scored 34 off 16 (strike rate of 213) in the first game vs Nepal A in a new position at number four. While runs dried up thereafter until the century in the final game, his lone resistance with the bat against the full Nepal side will count in his favour. He’s a very different batter to Ross Adair, so perhaps Ireland will want the more powerful option to continue as their back-up T20 opener in the World Cup squad. But if questions do start being asked due to Adair’s lack of form, Doheny hasn’t positioned himself badly.
PJ Moor
Given he has been pigeon-holed as a red ball-only player for Ireland, any sort of white ball runs would have rendered this tour a success for Moor. He didn’t feature against Nepal’s full side, so it’s difficult to say if he moved himself dramatically up the pecking order, but he’s done his chances no harm.
To say Moor has been messed around in his Ireland career to date would be an understatement. Despite being a middle order Test batter for Zimbabwe, Ireland use him out of position as a red ball opener. In white ball, despite opening for an extended period for Munster, last year the national coaches told him to shift to the middle order. Lest we forget Ireland have a logjam in the middle order and a lack of quality opening depth... They have it all backwards with Moor.
That said, when back in the semi-familiar roles of opening and batting three in the T20s against Nepal A, Moor’s knocks of 49 and 65 came with some very healthy strike-rates: 150 and 250. He went a bit quiet thereafter until an effort of 44 in his final 50-over game. He didn’t shoot the lights out, but given some of the power displayed, Moor joins Doheny in the conversation if Ross Adair’s World Cup spot comes under threat.
Matthew Humphreys
Avoided being blitzed when bowling in the high scoring T20s, while even recording a 3fer in one game. 11 wickets in the first two 50-over contests - 5fer and 6fer respectively - ensure this will be a tour to remember for the young left-arm spinner. Roughly this time last year, he was picked on a senior tour of the sub-continent because selectors liked his ‘grit’. After being given the hospital pass of being selected based on an intangible mental quality rather than demonstrable form - the tour went pretty much as expected - Humphreys needed a big confidence boost. Has he forced his way back into senior contention? Probably not. Yet his improved levels of control, not to mention his wicket-taking return, should boost his status when contract talks belatedly take place once all the Cricket Ireland budgets are finalised. At present, he is only on a casual deal.
This year’s T20 World Cup will definitely come too soon for Humphreys. If ODIs are cut from the post World Cup schedule due to financial concerns, that could harm his chances of adding to his cap total in the format at which he excelled in Nepal. Those factors are beyond his control. What he could look after, he did.
Gareth Delany
Didn’t do a whole lot with the ball, taking five wickets in as many T20 matches. However, he was as expensive as anyone else in those run-fests, a result you’d probably take from a leg-spinner. Where Delany won big was with the bat. For over a year now, fellow leggie Ben White has out-bowled him but Delany continues to be included in the senior T20 XI because he adds much-needed length to the batting line-up. When he passed 30 in the T20 portion of this tour (knocks of 30 and 68), he did so with strike rates of 214 and 168. At times, he seemingly found the boundary at will. It’s not his primary role, but these games reinforced Delany’s importance to the senior T20 side with the bat given the lack of top order runs of late.
Ben White
A touch expensive in the T20s, but he did at least take wickets, which is exactly what he is picked to do. Did nothing to harm his chances of continuing to be Ireland’s premier spinner come the T20 World Cup. A 5fer in the final 50-over game was a welcome display in a format in which he has historically struggled, most notably last year’s World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe. If push comes to shove and Ireland decide only to pick one spinner in their T20 XI, he could well miss out due to Delany’s superior batting, but White has at least continued to show he is the better bowler.
Gavin Hoey
Arguably the most intriguing prospect heading into this tour. A former fast bowler, a serious back injury prompted him to turn to leg-spin a number of years ago. In many ways, he is a younger version of Delany, not an elite bowler but can take wickets while offering plenty of lower-order power with the bat. In the T20s, he was expensive with the ball. His economy was high in each game while the three wickets in as many contests probably don’t justify conceding that many runs. However, his one knock of 18 off 6 balls (300 strike-rate) was a glimpse of that batting power. He then took 4fer in a 50-over game, utilising the helpful surface. That spell and his one impressive knock are enough to warrant more looks in future Wolves matches, so his tour can be labelled a marginal success.
Fionn Hand
Chaotic as ever, but he was named player of the series after the T20s vs Nepal A. He was expensive in the shorter format, but took eight wickets in just five games. His short ball ploy worked well against a side that perhaps hasn’t seen much of bowlers like Hand - he loves to bowl a heavy length. Extras were a bit of a problem.
Hand did have two brilliant hitting cameos down the order, including 22 off just seven balls. That knock was rounded off by a chaotic run-out, Hand trudging off forlornly covered in dirt after appearing to complain about the decision despite being miles short of his ground. There probably should be a conversation about Hand replacing Hume as the back-up seamer in the T20 squad, meaning this tour has likely advanced the former’s cause.
He was quiet in the 50-over games, taking two wickets in three outings without being criminally expensive.
Middle Tier
Neil Rock (captain)
Runs aside, he won a lot of plaudits back home for his aggressive captaincy, never being afraid to fight his team’s corner with the officials while setting attacking fields for his at-times dominant spinners. Placing him in the middle tier after a handful of powerful knocks might sound bizarre, but...
Of everyone in this Wolves squad who is not already a senior regular (so Delany and White aside), Rock is probably the closest to forcing his way into the XI. Where he fits in, though, is a tricky one. He has to bat in the middle order, so there are no prospects of replacing the run-shy Lorcan Tucker at number three, even if that would be a like-for-like swap with the gloves. The choices then appear to be, promote Harry Tector to three and bring in Rock as a left-handed middle-order floater at the expense of Tucker, or take away a bowling option and swap out Campher.
Both moves would be massive, massive calls, given Tucker’s status as vice-captain and Campher’s ability to single-handedly win at least one match at each World Cup he’s been at. Therefore, Rock needed to be utterly dominant on this tour for those conversations to even take place. Against Nepal’s senior side, he had two low scores, meaning he’s still on the outside of the senior XI looking in, in all likelihood. Later efforts of 38 and 71* at a strike rate of 165 and 208 meant he didn’t miss out on the fast-scoring runfest against Nepal A.
Rock is therefore in the middle tier because he didn’t change where he stands in relation to Ireland’s World Cup squad. He didn’t harm his chances, but he didn’t make a watertight case for a promotion to the starting XI. Personally, I still think Ireland would be foolish not to give a left-handed power hitter a run in the team to see if he can translate domestic power and flashes of Wolves form to the main side, but I can’t see the historically conservative selection policy changing this close to a World Cup. Rock will still travel to America as the back-up wicketkeeper/middle-order bat.
Tom Mayes
One of the few seamers who escaped without astronomically expensive figures despite the high scoring nature of the T20 portion of the tour. Wasn’t especially threatening, taking six wickets in five games. His one bad outing was conceding 42 in 3.5 overs in the second T20 vs Nepal A. He did, at least, take two scalps with him in that spell. Mayes avoided the disaster overs that plagued the likes of Matthew Foster, though it remains unclear if he’s done enough to leapfrog his Northern Knights teammate in the international pecking order.
Liam McCarthy
Given his status as the fastest bowler in the Wolves squad - and one of, if not the quickest on the interpro circuit - he probably should have been more of a wicket-taking threat in the T20s. On flat decks, you need your pace options to take the pitch out of the equation - nose and toes - and take wickets. In his three T20s, his economy in each game was 9, 11 and 11.5. Those figures can be justified by plenty of wickets but he only took one in that span.
However, his four-fer in the first ODI was crucial, removing three of Nepal’s top four with Ireland defending a low total. He also chipped in with a handy 35 down the order in another low-scoring 50-over game. He can be a handy left-handed lower order option who finds the boundary semi-regularly. Given McCarthy, who was born in South Africa, doesn’t qualify for Ireland until June of this year, he was never going to vaunt himself into immediate senior contention. The end of his tour did ensure he is worth another look if planned Wolves games this summer go ahead.
Work to do
Matthew Foster
Probably a bit harsh to put the 24-year-old seamer in this category. The positive in his ledger is he did take a wicket in every game he played, eight overall in five outings on the tour. He started well, taking 3-42 against Nepal’s full-strength side in the first T20 but his figures went downhill from there. The final T20 against Nepal A was a bit of a disaster. Figures of 1-52 off three overs, good for an economy of 17, should tell you enough, but the 18th over of the innings was a particular low point. Length, attempted yorkers, short balls, they all disappeared as he conceded 27 runs, albeit with one dismissal. Sums up his tour: wickets but expensive.
At this stage, he’s probably seen as more of a red ball option, given he beat all of the seamers in this group to make the Test squad in the UAE. A classic case of youngsters needing to be ground into the dirt on Wolves tours to develop. He’ll learn from this.
Morgan Topping
Had a very slow start to his tour, scoring in the single-figures and then - in an innings that arguably harmed Ireland’s chances of winning more than a low score - notched 21 off 26 in a slow scoring partnership with Cade Carmichael that hamstrung the Wolves when chasing a big total.
However, he somewhat answered concerns over his power with a knock of 60 off 37 (162 strike rate) in his next game. After struggling previously vs spin, Topping showed he has a strong slog sweep that he used to good effect in a partnership with Delany which nearly saw the Wolves pull off a mammoth chase of 214. Looks like a classic Irish middle order player who prefers 50-overs to T20, but he failed to fire in the longer format. Like Carmichael, given the strength of Ireland’s middle-order, he needed to be dominant to launch himself into senior contention conversation. Topping is also 25, older than Harry Tector, so he probably needed to impress even more.
Cade Carmichael
Again, perhaps a touch harsh on Carmichael given he did score a half-century in a very low-scoring 50-over game. However, in the T20s, he probably batted himself out of senior contention anytime soon. His run-a-ball 18 in the second game vs Nepal’s senior side was part of that partnership with Topping that killed the game. He did improve with four boundaries and a maximum in his next outing, scoring 38 off 29, good for a strike rate of 131.
Similar to Topping, he looks a classic Irish middle order player who is more suited to the longer format where he has more time to build an innings. However, given the logjam of players in their mid-20s in the senior side’s middle order, a player in that position needs to shoot the lights out on a tour like this. Carmichael didn’t do that. Aged 21, he has more time on his side than Topping.
Ross Adair
Given the runs scored by Doheny and Moor on this tour, Adair needed a dominant run to avoid questions about his spot in the T20 World Cup squad as the back-up opener. Barring a knock of 31 off 14 (221 strike rate) in the last T20, he didn’t come close to hitting top stride. Two efforts of 17 came with a strike rate of below 100, while he didn’t get past double figures in his other two innings. You do give more attacking players a longer leash, given the increased likelihood of failure. Ireland are also reluctant to make too many changes to the senior squad, especially seven games out from a World Cup. Moor and Doheny aren’t quite nipping at Adair’s heels, but a question might be asked. The squad for the Pakistan series will be telling, when named.
James McCollum
Difficult to expect a lot from a red ball specialist on a white ball tour. His first game did show some promise, scoring 26 with a strike rate of 200 opening the batting in a T20, but thereafter McCollum failed to fire. Given he was left out of the Test against Afghanistan, he could really have done with a red ball game on this tour to properly press his case for playing in the Zimbabwe Test, if it happens.
Any changes to the senior side?
Despite the positivity surrounding this tour, it’s difficult to say anyone has forced their way into the Ireland XI for the next matches against Pakistan in Clontarf. Those games are T20s, which will be the main format until after the World Cup in June.
Ireland’s most recent T20 squad against Afghanistan was as follows: Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock, Paul Stirling (c), Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.
The only potential changes to that group off the back of Nepal will be among squad players. Rock, White and Delany all impressed without dramatically changing their status. Hand did a good - if sometimes expensive - job of troubling Nepal batters when bowling into the pitch. That could be an interesting role for World Cup group stage matches against the likes of USA and Canada; a very specific task during the middle-overs. Bang the ball in halfway down to buy a few cheap wickets. It won’t work against teams like Pakistan and India, given Hand doesn’t have top end pace. Is such a specialised role enough to get him into a squad at the expense of Graham Hume? We’ll see.
The only other change that could be made is if either Doheny or Moor did enough to threaten Ross Adair’s back-up opener job. Adair is in for his power, but he hasn’t shown it consistently for a while. Doheny doesn’t have that power, but just looked more consistent and more comfortable against the Nepal senior side. Moor showed power and wasn’t as consistent as Doheny, but was more so than Adair. It could well be harsh on Adair to drop him given he hasn’t really had an extended run of games, but neither had Doheny or Moor before they outperformed him on this tour.
It’s a lot of chatter for squad depth roles, though. In the starting XI, Ireland’s plans for the World Cup will not have changed off the back of performances in the Wolves.
I thought Cade Carmichael and Morgan Topping had improved from their West Indies tour, but have not made anything like the weight of runs to challenge for senior places. Possibly Chris de Freitas of Balbriggan, a left hander could come into contention for a Wolves place. His team mate Sam Willemse looks promising too, as a pace bowler.
Maybe the fielding contributions are worth a mention, and in this respect the slip fielding of Moor and Doheny was impressive, at least what I saw on the videos..
I was surprised by how little Rock (Arkansas🤣) kept, as his most likely way into the senior team is as a powerful left handed keeper either as a direct replacement for Tucker (or allowing Tucker to play as purely a batsman), if he is a more natural keeper than Tucker, didn't get the opportunity to show it