{"id":468067,"date":"2026-05-26T16:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T16:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/468067\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T16:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T16:42:11","slug":"irelands-first-test-against-new-zealand-at-stormont-is-one-for-the-romantics-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/468067\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s first Test against New Zealand at Stormont is one for the romantics \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

One-off Test: Ireland v New Zealand, Stormont, Wednesday, 11am \u2013 Live on TNT Sports 2 and The Irish Cricket Podcast <\/a><\/p>\n

Traditional eyes will wander to Belfast this week, specifically Civil Service Cricket Club on the grounds of Stormont Castle. There, behold a rare sight over the course of four days. Irish cricketers will be wearing whites, hurling a red ball at Kiwi opposition.<\/p>\n

Ireland have never played a Test match against New Zealand. They don\u2019t play much red ball cricket full stop, this being the first home multiday fixture in two years.<\/p>\n

The dearth extends down the cricketing pyramid. A rare First Class domestic match took place in Malahide last week, but that was a one-off in preparation for Stormont. In club cricket, the top domestic leagues across the country almost exclusively operate with a white ball and coloured clothing. A sign of the times.<\/p>\n

If cold-minded and ruthless about the whole thing, it\u2019s all with good reason. That warm-up match last week cost Cricket Ireland in the region of \u20ac50,000 over four days. Currently on the outside looking in of the World Test Championship, these matches don\u2019t bring much return in terms of television rights. More generally, Irish cricket\u2019s dwindling public pull means ticket sales are low \u2013 the daily capacity at Stormont will be just 1,500.<\/p>\n

There is talk that, from next year on, Ireland will be included in an expanded World Test Championship. For now, it serves as mere chatter. Irish Tests remain for the dreamers.<\/p>\n

Yet there is a way in which this Test serves as an important model. With the Black Caps using it as a warm-up for their three-match series in England, eyes across the water are trained on how their future opponents fare. The BBC are flying over a journalist to cover it. If this match garners attention, a precedent can be set for bigger nations stopping over on their way to Blighty.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Zealand’s Matt Henry. Photograph: Idrees Mohammed\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s ability to give them a good game is another matter entirely. One intersquad warm-up last week is scant preparation for Matt Henry with a new red Dukes in hand. Before then, Ireland hadn\u2019t played a red ball match since a two-game series in Bangladesh before Christmas. Competitively, expectations are low.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not ready compared to other Test nations,\u201d said Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie. \u201cYou can\u2019t really beat around the bush there. We\u2019ve guys making their First Class debut this week who are going to be arguably playing the Test match next week. That doesn\u2019t happen around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our 13th Test match [since gaining Test status in 2017], so they have been spread out, but we will try to go out and play good cricket. And good cricket is good cricket. We\u2019ve done that over the years in ODIs and T20s and in Test matches. So we know how to do it, but certainly playing against a team like this, it\u2019s going to be a big step up and we\u2019ve just got to make sure that we can throw as many punches as we can over four days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ireland are set to give out at least two debuts in the format on Wednesday. Tom Mayes has played white ball cricket internationally but is set for a first Test appearance after six wickets in last week\u2019s warm-up.<\/p>\n

Nineteen-year-old Reuben Wilson, whose father is from New Zealand, is also likely to debut. Spots are available in the Irish seam bowling ranks after injuries to Barry McCarthy (knee), Jordan Neill (side strain) and Josh Little (ribs), but Wilson is nevertheless a young talent who has been earmarked for a senior cap ever since appearing in his first Under-19 World Cup aged just 15.<\/p>\n

This week is for the romantics, and a young debutant only adds to the general whimsical air. Despite arguments from players and coaches that red ball cricket is the best for developing players, even if they only play white ball internationally, Cricket Ireland has made clear that financial constraints mean they are waiting to see what their World Test Championship involvement will be before strategising for more red ball cricket.<\/p>\n

Which makes Wednesday\u2019s occasion all the more fleeting. A competitive fixture it may not be, but its success in terms of eyeballs, suggesting there might be a commercial point to all of this, is crucial for those who love the format.<\/p>\n

Squads<\/p>\n

IRELAND: Andrew Balbirnie (capt), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Cade Carmichael, Stephen Doheny, Jake Egan, Matthew Humphreys, Tom Mayes, Andrew McBrine, Liam McCarthy, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (wkts), Reuben Wilson, Craig Young.<\/p>\n

NEW ZEALAND: Tom Latham (capt), Tom Blundell (wkts), Kristian Clarke, Devon Conway, Zak Foulkes, Dean Foxcroft, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Will O\u2019Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Michael Rae, Rachin Ravindra, Ben Sears, Nathan Smith, Blair Tickner, Kane Williamson, Will Young.<\/p>\n

Umpires: Alex Wharf (Eng), Rod Tucker (Aus).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One-off Test: Ireland v New Zealand, Stormont, Wednesday, 11am \u2013 Live on TNT Sports 2 and The Irish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8755,8756,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-468067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}