Ireland name uncapped trio for West Indies games

Ireland men's cricket coach Heinrich Malan is looking forward to the challenge of taking on West Indies.

Ireland have included uncapped trio Cade Carmichael, Tom Mayes and Liam McCarthy in a 14-man squad for the one-day series against West Indies at Clontarf later this month.

Mark Adair has been ruled out of the ODIs by injury but has been named in another 14-man squad selected for next month's three T20 contests against West Indies which will take place at Bready.

The two white-ball series will be West Indies' first games in Ireland since 2019.

Paul Stirling will captain Ireland in both series with the squads including Indian Premier League player Josh Little after he returned for the white-ball contests in Zimbabwe in February.

Batter Carmichael, who plays for Instonians and the Northern Knights, has impressed for the Ireland Wolves while McCarthy and Mayes will offer Heinrich Malan's squad new seam options in the ODIs which will be played on 21, 23 and 25 May at the Dublin venue.

McCarthy remains in the Ireland squad for the T20s which which take place in the North West on 12, 14 and 15 June.

Ireland defeated West Indies in their last meeting during the 2022 T20 World Cup in Hobart

Ireland coach Malan has previously enjoyed guiding the team to successes over West Indies.

Four months after his appointment, Ireland secured a 2-1 ODI series win over West Indies in June 2022 before an eye-catching T20 World Cup victory over the same opponents in Hobart later that year.

While West Indies are far from the world-leading force they were in the 1970s and 1980s, Malan is still expecting tough challenges against squads laden with players who compete in all the globe's top franchise leagues.

"Obviously they have been very successful in the past and I think they've got a real push on to try and get back to those days. So we're looking forward to a very competitive series and hopefully it will be six good games of cricket.

"The last time we played them was in Hobart and we managed to get across the line and that gives us a nice bit of confidence."

Ireland's shock 1969 win

The last time West Indies visited the North West to take on Ireland was way back in 1969 with the hosts claiming a shock nine-wicket win at Sion Mills after bowling the tourists out for just 25 runs.

The story goes that some good old Irish hospitality may have affected the West Indies performance 56 years ago, as Malan jokingly alluded to on Wednesday.

"It's no pressure on the lads up there in the North West to make sure that they have a good couple of nights when we arrive," smiled the Ireland coach.

"But we are looking forward to playing at Bready against them.

"From a T20 perspective they've shown that they've got some real power with both the bat and the ball so we'll have our work cut out for us but we are looking forward to the challenge."