Andrew Balbirnie


Andrew Balbirnie is an Irish cricketer, the current captain of the Ireland cricket team in all formats. Balbirnie is a right-handed batsman and an occasional wicket-keeper. He was born in Dublin and was educated at St. Andrew's College. He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Ireland's first ever Test match, against Pakistan, in May 2018. In the match he became the first Test cap for Ireland in Test cricket. In December 2018, he was one of nineteen players to be awarded a central contract by Cricket Ireland for the 2019 season.
In November 2019, Balbrinie was named as the captain of Ireland's Test and 50-over team, after William Porterfield stepped down. Later the same month, he was also named as the captain of Ireland's Twenty20 International team, replacing Gary Wilson. In January 2020, he was one of nineteen players to be awarded a central contract from Cricket Ireland, the first year in which all contracts were awarded on a full-time basis.

Early and domestic career

Balbirnie has represented Ireland at U-19 level, playing nine Youth One Day International's. In 2009, he captained Ireland's Under-19 World Cup Qualifier winning squad. Victory in this tournament allowed Ireland Under-19's to take part in the 2010 U-19 Cricket World Cup.
On 15 August 2017, he scored his maiden first-class century, when Ireland played the Netherlands in the 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup.
He was the leading run-scorer in the 2018 Inter-Provincial Trophy tournament, with 262 runs in six matches. He was also the leading run-scorer for Leinster Lightning in the 2018 Inter-Provincial Championship, with 302 runs in four matches.
In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Dublin Chiefs in the inaugural edition of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled.

International career

He was later a member of Ireland's 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division One winning team. During the tournament, he made his List A debut for Ireland, in what was also his debut One Day International which came against Scotland. He played three further One Day International's during the tournament.
He made his Twenty20 International debut against Scotland on 19 June 2015, although no play was possible due to rain.
He was part of the Ireland A team which toured Bangladesh in October 2017 to play one first-class match and five limited overs matches against the Bangladesh A team.
In May 2018, he was named in a fourteen-man squad for Ireland's first ever Test match, which was played against Pakistan later the same month. He made his Test debut for Ireland, against Pakistan, on 11 May 2018. He was dismissed for a pair, therefore becoming the forty-fourth batsman, and first for Ireland, to get a pair on debut in Test cricket.
In January 2019, he was named in Ireland's squad for their one-off Test against Afghanistan in Dehradun, India. In May 2019, in the opening match of the 2019 Ireland Tri-Nation Series against the West Indies, Balbirnie played in his 100th international match for Ireland.
In September 2019, he was named in Ireland's squad for the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in the United Arab Emirates. On 10 July 2020, Balbirnie was named in Ireland's 21-man squad to travel to England to start training behind closed doors for the ODI series against the England cricket team.