Tucker to fore in opening gambit

IRELAND play South Africa today in the first of a two-game series, their first T20 international of the winter. Or are they playing their last games of the summer?

The confusion arises because this ‘home’ series, and the ODI one that follows, takes place in the Sheikh Zayed International Cricket Stadium – and no, the late UAE monarch is not the new title sponsor of Malahide.

The games have been switched to Abu Dhabi by Cricket Ireland, realistically fearful that the Irish climate would prevent the five games taking place under the grey sodden skies currently blighting Dublin.

It’s not just the weather though, with TV rights coming into play closer to India, and stadium hire likely to prove a saving on erecting the wasteful temporary infrastructure needed to stage the games in Dublin.

The real losers are the Ireland supporters, of course, faced with paying €631 for an Etihad Airlines ticket instead of a couple of euros for the Dart.

The series is an important one for Ireland, as coach Heinrich Malan sets about reshaping the T20 side after a miserable World Cup which saw them go down to lowly Canada. Major surgery has been applied to the top order, where Andrew Balbirnie has been left out, with Lorcan Tucker set to open with white-ball captain Paul Stirling.

Tucker has played 42 of his 70 T20 innings at No 3, scoring over 1000 runs and all his fifties there. He has opened the batting only once in any format – two weeks ago for Leinster Lightning when he made 8 against Northern Knights – but Malan is keen to shake things up.

‘It’s a different dynamic for us at the top of the order, and Lorcan has shown that over a period of time and we’re really keen to give him that freedom to go up there and play it the way that he has done,’ the coach explained.

‘He reads the game really, really well. He goes up and down the gears depending on the situation that we find ourselves and it’s been fantastic to see how he’s grown in that space.’

Harry Tector moves up to three, Curtis Campher to four, with Neil Rock in at No 5. The hard-hitting Ross Adair, who opened in all eight of his games to date, will be given a floating role depending on the situation, which means he could come in anywhere from 5 to 8 as a finisher.

Malan expanded on his vision for the side: ‘I guess we don’t necessarily have a name or whatever as regards to the way we want to play, I think we’re really clear we want to throw some punches when we play cricket.

‘We want to make sure that we take the positive option but in saying all of that you still have to play to your strengths. And we’ve challenged people over a period of time to play away from their strengths to aid the bigger picture of how we want to operate.

‘I guess a big part of our final step to this 2026 T20 World Cup is really challenging guys to be able to execute their strengths day in, day out and then really have that as an overarching focus for us.’

With Gareth Delany injured after a staircase tumble, opportunity could knock early for uncapped legspinner Gavin Hoey. He teams up with Trinity spin-twin Matthew Humphreys and both will be keen to get a chance to bowl alongside Ben White on spin-friendly UAE pitches.

Humphreys paid tribute to the new Ireland men’s spin coach Chris Brown, who has revitalised the sector. ‘Browny has been great,’ Humphreys said. ‘The difference he has made since starting has been pretty clear to see.

‘It can be hard going from training on seamer friendly pitches or indoors at home, to having to take on more of the workload in spinning conditions, but we always band together well and try to work out what’s going to work wherever we are.

‘It’s nice having guys with different experiences also, George Dockrell has a wealth of knowledge and Whitey has had a good bit of success in the T20 stuff recently so he’s always passing on advice.’

The Northern Knights left-armer agrees he has come on in leaps and bounds since his test debut 18 months ago: ‘The obvious answer is the consistency piece but for me it’s having more revs on the ball and better control over my seam position,’ he said. ‘Then you have the ability to challenge batters through the air or off the pitch – and hopefully both.’

This will be a tough test for Ireland, although South Africa feature only three of the team that lost to India in the World Cup final in Georgetown in June. Only six of their 15 man squad has played more than nine T20is, but their top four will include the powerful Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram and Tristan Stubbs. Among their new faces are pacy Dolphins all-rounder Andile Simelane and Lions leggie Nqaba Peter.

The sides have met five times with South Africa batting first and winning each time, Ireland’s closest defeat coming by 21 runs.