T20 World Cup: Delany and McBrine return to Irish provisional squad

Gareth Delany makes the 18-man squad named on Thursday

Gareth Delany and Andy McBrine have been named in Ireland's 18-man provisional squad for the T20 World Cup.

Curtis Campher and Graham Kennedy also come into the panel with William McClintock among those to miss out.

Ireland will begin their T20 World Cup group game against Netherlands in Abu Dhabi on 18 October followed by matches with Sri Lanka and Namibia.

The top two from the four-team group progress to the Super 12s stage.

Delany and Campher are back after injury with the pair expected to be fit in time for tournament.

McBrine, who is named in a T20 panel for the first time in four years, and North-West Warriors team-mate Kennedy get the nod with spinner-friendly pitches expected.

The 18-player squad will be refined to 15 core players plus three travelling reserves in early October.

Ireland, who are in the Group A, will take on Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi on 20 October and finish against Namibia in Sharjah two days later.

Sri Lanka are the top-ranked T20 team in Group One with Ireland second and followed by Netherlands.

The top two teams from each group in the Super 12s will progress to the semi-finals.

The tournament, which was moved from India because of the coronavirus pandemic, will be played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November.

Ireland provisional squad: Andrew Balbirnie (c), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Shane Getkate, Graham Kennedy, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O'Brien, Neil Rock, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.