Andy Balbirnie replace Gary Wilson as Ireland’s T20I skipper
Dublin: Cricket Ireland has appointed Andy Balbirnie as their T20I skipper ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020. Balbirnie, who was recently named the ODI and Test captain also, will replace Gary Wilson in the shorter format of the game.
Wilson last led Ireland at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 in the United Arab Emirates, where Ireland finished third, confirming their spot in the T20I World Cup, which will kick-off from October 18, 2020, in Australia.
“Both Gary and the selectors believe that Andrew Balbirnie should have the opportunity to forge his leadership style and his standards across all the three formats,” Andrew White, Ireland’s chairman of selectors was quoted as saying by the ICC.
“Whilst he was announced as Test and ODI captain a few weeks ago, after consultation with the selectors and Gary it was agreed by all that with similar players likely to be utilised across all formats it was important that Andrew was allowed to stamp his mark on the new generation of players coming through,” he added.
Meanwhile, Wilson, who led Ireland in 25 games after taking over the role in 2018, promised full support to Balbirnie and confirmed his commitment to as a player.
“It was an absolute honour to be asked to captain Ireland — it was something that I dreamt about as a child. When I took on the job 18 months ago it was always the remit to qualify for the World Cup and re-assess from there.
“I’m very much looking forward to continuing as a player and working with Balbo in the future. I think it will prove to be a great appointment and believe that it is important that he, as a captain, has control of all three sides and gets to take it in a direction that he sees fit,” Wilson expressed.