Squads announced for South Africa A game and RSA Inter-Regional Series

Trent Johnston returns to the Ireland squad for their four day game against South Africa A which gets under way in Coleraine on Monday (11am), having missed the drawn game in Oak Hill which finished yesterday.


John Mooney (thumb) and Paul Stirling (shoulder) are both injured, while Niall O'Brien, who was originally selected for the game, has been called into the Northamptonshire county side. There's a recall for wicket-keeper Stuart Poynter who scored a half century for Ireland A against Durham last month.


Ireland coach Phil Simmons said of the squad: "It's good to have Trent back in the side. He brings a wealth of experience which is great to help the young bowlers we have at the minute. Stuart Poynter did well in England and deserves his chance. We've given John Mooney another week to rest his thumb, while Paul's shoulder injury will see him miss another few weeks, but he'll be okay for the World T20.


"South Africa A showed they have some quality players and Wayne Parnell bowled exceptionally well. I was impressed with James Shannon who batted with great maturity and fully deserved his half century on debut. John Anderson and Andrew Balbirnie did well in the second innings as we finished the game strongly. It'll be another tough battle at Coleraine, and hopefully we'll get a full game this time."


The squads have also been named for the RSA Inter-Regional series game at Bready on Sunday. Peter Connell and Gary Kidd are both drafted into the Northern side following their 98 run loss at Waringstown three weeks ago, while North Down teenager Peter Eakin is also included.


In the Southern squad there's a first opportunity at representative level for Joe Carroll. The 21 year old Tasmanian plays for Leinster and is a medium pace bowler and hard hitting middle order batsman. In form Thomas Murphy from The Hills is included, as are former Ireland Under 19 all-rounder Eddie Richardson and Ireland A batsman Tom Fisher.


Meanwhile Cricket Ireland have also confirmed that the T20 blitz scheduled for August 26 has been cancelled. Cricket Ireland Performance Director Richard Holdsworth explained; "With Cricket Ireland arranging four Twenty20 games against South Africa A instead of the originally planned two, we felt that there was just too many games for the players in a short space of time. Also with the amount of rescheduled fixtures domestically it would ease the pressure on the clubs at such a critical and busy period of the summer."