Porterfield (c)- Captain since forever, most famous for his indecipherable North-West accent, decent technique but a little defensive, would probably be a very important player in tests
Stirling- Immensely talented, very aggressive, adorable little spide. Also bowls filth so disgusting that the fact that it is even slightly effective reflects badly on cricket as a sport.
Joyce- Probably the best Irish cricketer ever, very successful at county level. Humped and dumped by England- played ODIs when he should have played tests- welcomed back with open arms.
Niall O'Brien- Left-handed leg-side hitter and backup wicket keeper, legend of several famous Irish victories
Andrew Balbirnie- Never seen him play, highly regarded but yet to score many runs- could be Ireland's next Eoin Morgan.
Wilson- Wicket keeper, captain of Surrey, solid all-rounder
Kev O'Brien- Quality lower order hitter who also bowls medium-pace long-hops. Most famous for pulling a win over England out of his arse in 2011. Frequently labelled "the danger man" by commentators in a failed attempt to demonstrate that they know something about Irish cricket.
Mooney- All-rounder who looks as intimidating as possible to hide his wholly unthreatening cricketing style. Nips it around nicely with the ball; has a batting style best described as "loose"; has nevertheless hit the winning runs in quite a few big victories.
Sorensen- South African import, bowls medium-fast, closest thing we have to an actual seamer at the moment.
Dockrell- Quality left-arm spinner; looks about twelve; will almost definitely end up playing for England.
McBrine- Right arm orthodox, only played a few games, seems handy enough and still very young.
Cusack- Left out for McBrine yesterday. Has batted in just about every position in the team. Used to be a specialist death bowler but now we're not sure he can handle that. Ireland stalwart, very useful cricketer but might now be over the hill.
Others who are/were in the squad:
Tim Murtagh - English import, hugely successful County Championship bowler over the last few seasons, probably unlucky not to jag a home Test for them at some point. Bowls medium fast on a metronomic length, moving it both ways and extracting bounce. Never been as good in one day cricket as he is at four day cricket due to his inability to change that length but still bowls genuinely threatening new ball spells. Injured and out for the tournament; was replaced by Sorensen who immediately forced his way into the starting lineup with good warmup performances.
Craig Young - Barely sighted due to repeated injuries but a classic outswing bowler when fit. Was expected to open the bowling with Murtagh originally but he didn't set the world alight in the warmups unlike Sorensen's so he's been left out. Could still play an important part in the tournament.
Stuart Thompson - Young allrounder who was seen more as a bowler early on, he's now basically in the squad as a backup batsman. If he plays he'll probably bat 7-8 as a specialist slog overs option and only bowl a couple of overs.
Peter Chase - I haven't seen much of him, but he's a 21 year old seamer who gets games for Durham. I'm surprised the national selectors haven't been more interested in him for this fact alone given proper seamers are probably their biggest weakness. In the squad but was given less of a workout in the warmups than all the seam options including bit-part allrounders Cusack and Thompson so I'd be surprised if he got a game.
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Outside the squad:
Andrew White - Hugely successful for Ireland in the four-day Intercontinental Cup tournament and has played for various county Second XI teams. Bats in the middle order and bowls Suresh Rana like offies. He reverts to really funky batting in one day cricket when he probably doesn't have to and therefore he's not been nearly as successful in that format, but it's a testament to the growth of Irish cricket that he wasn't even really spoken about as a World Cup option this time around.
Nick Larkin - Gold tier Sydney grade cricket batsman who usually plays domestic cricket in Ireland over the Australian offfseason, and two seasons ago expressed a desire to qualify for the national side. He's very pleasant on the eye but like a lot of these fringe players he's a better four day cricketer. Had a crack for NSW in the Shield this season and did really well, but the PONI-stacked NSW batting lineup is hard to crack so he's slipped out of the side. May revise his plans to qualify for Ireland if he can get a full time NSW contract, but he's someone we could see more of after the WC.
Ronan McDonald - Fast bowler on the fringes on the Queensland Sheffield Shield team who has been plagued by injury. Has Irish heritage and has played Irish domestic cricket; rapid when he's fit.
Chris Dougherty - Every national team has one. That player who national selectors just like to pretend doesn't exist. Dougherty came up through the national youth sides for Ireland, studied in Leeds, played for a couple of county Second XI teams and has spent the rest of his time bashing the door down in Irish domestic cricket as a top order batsman to no avail. Fans are miffed and apparently Dougherty is even more miffed.
Andrew Poynter - Probably the guy most complained about by Dougherty fans. A big hitting middle order batsman with a questionable defensive setup and little footwork, he gets picked in hope of he and KOB going large in tandem at the end. Has never really come off for either Ireland or Middlesex who he also plays for.
Stuart Poynter - Andrew's brother. A tidy young keeper and arguably a better batsman than Andrew. Would have walked into the side in an earlier era but the wicket keeping slots are well covered by O'Brien and Wilson. Like his brother, has also attracted county interest.
John Anderson - South African import top order batsman who appears in the Intercontinental Cup when the big names are away with county sides - again much to the annoyance of Dougherty fans. He's actually done really well in that role but he's seen as a bit limited for ODIs, particularly against Test nations.
Eddie Richardson - a young medium pacer who we might see more of when Mooney, Cusack and Murtagh are finished up.
