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The Ireland senior men’s team play their first red ball cricket since attaining Full Member status of the ICC when the Netherlands visit Malahide for an Intercontinental Cup match this week.

The squad gathered yesterday as preparations began in earnest and they looked resplendent in their pristine whites, in what was a debut appearance for the Turkish Airlines sponsored whites.

The squad features a number of changes and several players receiving their first international call ups. One of whom is Instonians’ Nathan Smith.

The seamer was playing for the Northern Knights in an Interprovincial Championship match when he got the news of his selection. “I found out on Day 2, I was talking to John Bracewell about my bowling and stuff and he broke the news to me. Of course I was absolutely ecstatic, it’s been an absolute dream of mine.”

Smith has had a very good summer and celebrated his call-up with 4-31 against The Hills in the Irish Senior Cup semi-final last weekend. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as The Hills won through on the day but Smith’s form has been good all season.

“It’s been a really good summer so far,” he said, “I’ve enjoyed all my experiences with the Wolves.” Despite his form, the selection did come as a surprise and he enjoyed facing his international skipper in a 50 over Interprovincial 8 days ago.

“It’s not something I expected as such, I never expected to be in the national team so early but it’s something I’ll take and go with. Yes of course I enjoyed the chance, any opportunity to impress a player of William Porterfield’s class has to be taken, unfortunately I didn’t get to bowl to him too much in the match.”

Barry McCarthy was glad to meet up with the squad again ahead of the visit of the Dutch. “Yeah it’s always nice to get back in with the lads, it’s been a while since we were together,” he said.

McCarthy is happy to see the likes of Smith and Jack Tector rewarded for their good form domestically this season. “It shows the strength of the Interpro competition here and that if lads are going to do well in that, and in the Wolves system, they are going to be rewarded. It’s good to see that these guys are being rewarded,” he added.

Given that Ireland are a full member of the ICC and have Test Status, is there any extra pressure on the Irish squad going into this match against the Netherlands?

“I don’t really think so,” says McCarthy, “it’s not really something we’ve been talking about, it’s just another game of cricket. We are here to compete and to win. We’re going to go out and prepare as well as we can these next few days to win this game, starting on Tuesday.”

The game does indeed start on Tuesday, with first ball scheduled for 11am at Malahide. Entrance is free all week and there will be tea, coffee and snacks available throughout the day, as well as bar facilities after lunch.

This is your chance to see one of Ireland’s premier international teams on home soil and it is free to come in and enjoy the action.

Ireland v The Netherlands, ICC Intercontinental Cup, August 15th-18th, Malahide Cricket Club, 11am start

Ireland Squad
William Porterfield (captain), John Anderson, Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase, Ed Joyce, Barry McCarthy, Jacob Mulder, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Boyd Rankin, Simi Singh, Nathan Smith, Jack Tector, Gary Wilson

Netherlands Squad
Peter Borren (captain), Wesley Barresi, Logan van Beek, Dan ter Braak, Ben Cooper, Quirijn Gunning, Paul van Meekeren, Stephan Myburgh, Max O’Dowd, Shane Snater, Tobias Visee, Asad Zulfiqar, Saqib Zulfiqar

Cricket Ireland
The Ireland squad and backroom team ahead of the match against the Netherlands this week
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