Stirling and Little to miss T20 series in Zimbabwe

Ireland will be without Paul Stirling and Josh Little for January’s Twenty20 series in Zimbabwe after the pair opted to play in franchise leagues.

Little will take part in South Africa’s SA20 for the Pretoria Capitals.

Stirling and Little will return for Ireland’s three one-day internationals, which follow the T20 series.

Ireland will play three T20 matches from 12-15 January against Zimbabwe before three ODIs between the sides from 18-23 January.

Stirling and the in-form Little will miss a handful of games for their franchises while competing in the ODIs for Ireland but will return to Abu Dhabi and South Africa respectively following the conclusion of the series.

Curtis Campher is included in both squads despite holding a contract with Chattogram Challengers in the Bangladesh Premier League which, like the ILT20 and SA20, clashes directly with the tour.

Simi Singh, the off-spinning allrounder, has been left out of both squads, while Craig Young is sidelined with an injury suffered at the T20 World Cup and Conor Olphert is also absent through injury.

“This flexibility in selection will allow us to provide a number of fringe players a chance,” said Andrew White, Ireland’s national selector.

“2023 will be the year when we return to playing all three formats. However, with a T20 World Cup Qualifier in July and a possible 50-over Cricket World Cup in October – if we can qualify – the importance of this white-ball series is obvious.

“The volume of cricket next year demands that we will need a broader pool of ‘international-ready’ players to meet the challenges ahead, and the Zimbabwe tour will be the start of that process.”

T20I squad: Andy Balbirnie (capt), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Fionn Hand, Graham Hume, Tyrone Kane, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White

ODI squad: Andy Balbirnie (capt), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Graham Hume, Tyrone Kane, Josh Little, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker