DUBLIN – Cricket Ireland has today announced that central contracts have been agreed with 48 players across its senior men’s and women’s squads ahead of a busy summer.
Of the 25 men’s contracts, there are 20 full-time and five retainer contracts, while there are eight full-time, 10 education and five casual contracts amongst the 23 contracts agreed within the Ireland Women’s squad. Six players on education contracts will go full-time during the year.
Seven names appear for the first time in the Men’s central contract list, five of which made their senior international debuts in 2025.
Graeme West, Director of High Performance at Cricket Ireland, said:
“The central contracts are a critical component of the development of our senior squads, as they help ensure the availability and readiness of players who will feature for Ireland on the global stage throughout the next 12 months. This is critical with the men’s side playing all three formats this summer, and our women playing both white ball formats, including a T20 World Cup.
“The progress of the Senior Women’s team has been all-the-more impressive given the number of players that have balanced education commitments with being a High Performance athlete. The decisions made by a number of the players to defer their studies and work placements demonstrates the commitment the players are willing to make to push the group forward and embrace the exciting summer schedule with the T20 World Cup the pinnacle event.
“It’s always a very tough decision to not retain players that have made personal sacrifices in committing to Cricket Ireland and giving huge amounts of effort to progress and develop. I wish these players continued success both on the cricket field and in the alternative paths they chose to follow.
“With a number of the newly contracted players for 2026-27 already tasting international cricket, the onus is on the players to establish their places and produce performances that will be impactful across all three formats. Gaining more playing time at the highest level will naturally advance players, when you look at the quality of opposition we will be facing in the next twelve months, I am certain we will see the benefits as we prepare for ICC and Olympic white ball events in 2027-28.”
CONTRACT LISTS
Ireland Men – central contracts 2026-27
Seven players have been added to the Men’s Performance Squad, with five players not retained. Of the seven additions, five of these players (Ben Calitz, Jordan Neil, Tom Mayes, Tim Tector and Cade Carmichael) featured in internationals during 2025. Reuben Wilson and Matthew Hollard have been rewarded for performances in domestic cricket – and for Wilson, also through his performances in the Under-19 World Cup cycle.
- Mark Adair
- Ross Adair
- Andrew Balbirnie – Test captain
- Ben Calitz
- Curtis Campher
- Cade Carmichael
- Gareth Delany
- George Dockrell
- Stephen Doheny
- Gavin Hoey
- Matthew Hollard***
- Matthew Humphreys
- Joshua Little
- Tom Mayes***
- Andy McBrine
- Barry McCarthy
- Liam McCarthy
- Jordan Neil
- Paul Stirling – ODI captain
- Harry Tector
- Tim Tector***
- Lorcan Tucker
- Ben White***
- Reuben Wilson**
- Craig Young
Ireland Women – central contracts 2026-27
While no new players have been added to the Women’s contract list, Sophie MacMahon (retired) and Freya Sargent (stepped away from international cricket) no longer feature. This year will see two women on education contracts transition to full-time contracts, and a further four players have opted to defer education commitments and will move to full-time contracts during the summer to commit all their attention to the T20 World Cup.
- Ava Canning****
- Christina Coulter Reilly****
- Alana Dalzell
- Georgina Dempsey**
- Laura Delany
- Sarah Forbes**
- Abbi Harrison*
- Amy Hunter****
- Jennifer Jackson*
- Arlene Kelly
- Gaby Lewis – ODI and T20I captain
- Louise Little****
- Joanna Loughran*
- Aimee Maguire**
- Jane Maguire
- Lara McBride***
- Kia McCartney*
- Ellie McGee*
- Cara Murray
- Leah Paul
- Orla Prendergast
- Rebecca Stokell****
- Alice Tector**
* Casual contract
** Educational contract
***Retainer contract
**** Moving from educational to full-year contracts in 2026
