Who are Ireland’s Famous Cricketers?
Ireland’s most notable cricketers are quite new to the world stage given the country’s recent rise to full membership of the ICC. However, many have still been able to have an impact.
Kevin O’Brien
All-rounder Kevin O’Brien always seems to be among the action whenever he features for Ireland. He is already the country’s leading run-scorer in their fledgling Test history but has also bagged both runs and wickets in the one-day form of the game.
He has the most ODI wickets for Ireland with 113 in 113 innings. He has sits third in the table for the most ODI runs with 3,490 in 130 innings. In the T20 format he has bagged 58 wickets in 52 innings and scored 1,504 runs in 83 innings. His place in Irish cricketing history was secured when he smashed the quickest world cup ton to help his country to a three-wicket win over England in 2011. It was a victory that further pushed Cricket Ireland’s claim for Test-playing status at the time.
William Porterfield
He sits second in the list of top ODI run-scorers for Ireland with 4,037 runs in 133 innings. Porterfield has also captained Ireland at every level from under-13 upwards.
The left-hand bat became the first Irishman to pass 1,000 runs in T20Is. He also skippered Ireland for the country’s first Test match, against Pakistan, in 2018. Fine innings from Porterfield have also coincided with Ireland’s greatest successes on the international stage. They include Ireland’s Super 8 qualification at the 2007 World Cup and victory over England in the 2011 World Cup.
Paul Sterling
Talented batsman Paul Sterling has the most ODI and T20I runs for Ireland. He has also smashed the highest ODI score for his country when hitting 177 against Canada in 2010. His debut came in March 2008 when he featured for Ireland in the Intercontinental Cup. That came the same year he made his ODI debut for his country.
Sterling also featured in Ireland’s first Test match in May 2018 against Pakistan. He also went down as the first Irishman to hit a boundary in Test cricket in that game. Sterling was the leading run-scorer in the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup qualifier tournament in Abu Dhabi. He hit 291 runs in eight matches as Ireland booked their ticket to Australia in 2020.