Ireland face Stormont landmark Test 'looking at a squad that can actually win'

Ireland will walk out next Thursday at Stormont in the landmark first Test with a squad selected for success.

That’s the view of Cricket Ireland national selector Andrew White ahead of Zimbabwe’s visit to Belfast as opponents for a first-ever Test fixture in Northern Ireland – and only second on the island following Pakistan’s 2018 meeting.

“On the back of our first victory (against Afghanistan) we’re definitely looking to back that up with another win,” said White after squad confirmation. “We're not looking to just pick a squad that will compete, we're looking at a squad that can actually win the Test match - by taking 20 wickets and scoring the runs that we need to score arguably in the first innings to set up the victory.

“Scott Irvine, our performance analyst, is one of the best in the business in terms of providing myself, the coaches and players with the crucial information that we need to make decisions.

"The information he has given us to select the squad puts us in an informed position, and will hopefully give us the best chance of winning.”

He added: “We have a pretty settled squad for this Test match just on the back of obviously winning the previous Test against Afghanistan.

"While there are lots of familiar names in there, I suppose the two names that stand out are the inclusion of Matthew Humphreys and Gavin Hoey.

“Humphreys made his Test debut in Sri Lanka and found the going difficult against good players of spin out in the subcontinent.

"He'd admit himself that he went through a period of a loss of form and maybe a loss of confidence, but he's worked extremely hard to come back into the reckoning...it's the consistency he has shown over the last period which has been really pleasing and he very much deserves his call up.

“Hoey is a talented leg spinner and his ability to spin the ball both ways gives us a strong wicket-taking option.”

IRELAND: Andrew Balbirnie (captain), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gavin Hoey, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, James McCollum, PJ Moor, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.