Cricket Ireland announces central contracts for 2024-25

Cricket Ireland announced its central contracts list for the 2024-25 season, with as many as 21 players landing a full-time contract. It is an increase from last season when there were only 14 contracts offered.

Apart from the 21 players landing a full-time contract, four others - Gavin Hoey, Matthew Humphreys, Tom Mayes, and Liam McCarthy have been handed Retainer Contracts. While the full-time contracts are for the entire 12 months, those with Retainer Contracts get them for a specific number of days or a particular series.

Ireland's chief Men's Selector Andrew White said about the contracts:

"As our talent pool grows, so too does the challenge of selecting central contracts. With an increasing volume of cricket to play both home and away, our need to nurture and develop the talent to compete at the highest level becomes more acute and selecting the right mix of players to receive central contracts is one of the most consequential decisions we can make as an organisation."

He added:

"Our players are our assets, and we are constantly monitoring, reviewing and discussing the progress and performances of our players to ensure we have the best talent available to the head coach and captain. I congratulate the players receiving contracts in 2024 and look forward to seeing that steady progress and development of the last few years turn into regular success on the field of play."

The most notable omission from the central contracts list was 37-year-old off-spinner Simi Singh, who last played for Ireland in the 2022 T20 World Cup.

Meanwhile, Cricket Ireland offered 12 full-time contracts to their women's cricketers for the first time.

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Ireland take on India in their 2024 T20 World Cup opener tomorrow

Coming to the action on the field, Ireland will take on the might of Team India in their 2024 T20 World Cup opener in New York on June 5.

Unfortunately for the Irish, they have lost all seven previous T20I meetings to the Asian Giants, making it a tall order to pull off an upset victory tomorrow. Yet, Ireland are coming into the World Cup with excellent form. They have all three completed games in the tri-series featuring Scotland and the Netherlands before the Mega Event.

Before the tri-series, they also provided Pakistan a scare by winning the opening game of the three-match T20I series before losing the next two. Led by veteran opener Paul Stirling, Ireland are placed in Group A with India, Pakistan, Canada, and USA.