·       Photo for editorial use only (photo credit: Cricket Ireland)

At a virtual press conference yesterday, the Ireland Men’s head coach outlined changes ahead of the T20I series between Ireland Men and South Africa Men starting Friday.

Details about the series here.

QUOTES

Heinrich Malan, Ireland Men’s head coach on changes to Ireland’s top order in T20Is…

“We’re going to have a couple of changes with Andrew [Balbirnie] not around. You know, we’ve got the option of having Ross [Adair] at the top of the order as he’s done for us a couple of times. You know, we also have the option of looking at where Ross can play potentially a different role as a finisher. And then we’re looking at that middle order: three, four, five. [Harry] Tector at three, [Curtis] Campher at four and [Neil] Rock at five, so there’s a bit of a change in personnel from that perspective and you know we’re really looking forward to seeing what they can bring to the party for us.”

Lorcan Tucker’s new role…

“[He’s] no longer at three. Lorcan’s going to open for us in the beginning. It’s a different dynamic for us at the top of the order, and he’s shown that over a period of time and we’re really keen to give him that freedom to go up there and play it the way that he has done. He reads the game really really well you know. He goes up and down the gears depending on the situation that we find ourselves and it’s been fantastic to see how he’s grown in that space.”

Opportunity for Neil Rock…

“We’re going to try a couple of combinations and Pebbles [Neil Rock] is definitely going to get an opportunity in a couple of games here to show what he can do in that middle period for us. He’s obviously been a bit of a serial tour member going on a lot of trips and hasn’t necessarily played a hell of a lot of cricket. He’s obviously a left handed batter as well and you’ve highlighted the fact that he’s been one of the most successful domestic batters over the last couple of years. So hopefully this opportunity that comes his way he grabs that with both hands and you know add to that firing path that we want to try and build in that middle period from a T20 perspective.”

On Andrew Balbirnie missing out…

Look, I don’t think as a nation or as a cricket population, that we are in a position to really throw anyone out of reckoning to be honest with you. We really know what Andrew [Balbirnie] can do and he’s shown over a career that he’s pretty consistent and averaging 25 at a strike rate of 115 and look we’ve challenged him to play a little bit differently and it hasn’t necessarily gone 100% to plan for him. Knowing that we’re going to a World Cup, we will try and take a little bit of a different approach and part of that is making a couple of changes early on in this cycle and we’ve only got 12 or 14 games heading into the next T20 World Cup in 2026. So you know, we’re going to use the front part to try a couple of experiments around a couple of combinations. That obviously builds one: a bit of squad depth, but also two: you know hopefully we’re adding to the way we want to play our T20 game.

It’s trying to find that balance for us, you know, and he’s done that well over a period of time and it’s like I’ve said, I don’t think we can close the door on any of our players. You know, he’s got a fantastic record. He’s shown over periods of time that he can be very destructive at the top of the order, and we know that. But we’ve also got to have some of these hard conversations so that we can build a wider squad and you know, have 20 players to pick from as opposed to potentially 14 or 15 as we’ve done in the past.

And a vision for the side…

“I guess we don’t necessarily have a name or whatever as regards to the way we want to play, I think we’re really clear and you know we want to throw some some punches when we play cricket. We want to make sure that we take the positive option but in saying all of that you still have to play to your strengths. And I guess, you know, we’ve challenged people over a period of time here to potentially at times play away from their strengths to aid the bigger picture of how we want to operate. I guess a big part of our final step to this 2026 T20 World Cup is really challenging guys to be able to execute their strengths day in, day out and then really have that as an overarching focus for us.”