Andrew Balbirnie (born 28 December 1990) is an Irish

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er, the current captain of the

Ireland cricket team The Ireland men's cricket team represents All-Ireland in international cricket. The Irish Cricket Union, operating under the brand Cricket Ireland, is the sport's governing body in Ireland, and they organise the international team. The team ha ...

in Test cricket. Balbirnie is a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and an occasional

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

. He was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and was educated at St. Andrew's College. He was one of the 11 cricketers to play in Ireland's first ever Test match, against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, in May 2018. In December 2018, he was one of 19 players to be awarded a central contract by

Cricket Ireland Cricket Ireland (formerly the Irish Cricket Union) is the national Sport governing body, governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and oversees the national Ireland cricket team, men' ...

for the 2019 season. In November 2019, Balbirnie was named as the captain of Ireland's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

and ODI team, after

William Porterfield William Thomas Stuart Porterfield (born 6 September 1984) is an Irish former cricketer and a former captain of the Ireland cricket team. He played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. A left-handed batsman, he played for I ...

stepped down. Later the same month, he was also named as the captain of Ireland's

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) team, replacing Gary Wilson. In January 2020, he was one of 19 players to be awarded a central contract from

, the first year in which all contracts were awarded on a full-time basis.

Early and domestic career

Balbirnie has represented Ireland at U-19 level, playing nine Youth One Day Internationals. In 2009, he captained Ireland's Under-19 World Cup Qualifier winning squad. Victory in the tournament allowed Ireland Under-19's to take part in the

2010 U-19 Cricket World Cup The 2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was the eighth edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup and took place in New Zealand. Since 1998, the tournament has been held every 2 years. This edition had 16 teams competing in 44 matches between 15 ...

. On 15 August 2017, Balbirnie scored his maiden first-class century, when Ireland played the Netherlands in the 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup. Balbirnie was the leading run-scorer in the

2018 Inter-Provincial Trophy The 2018 Inter-Provincial Trophy was the sixth edition of the Inter-Provincial Trophy, a Twenty20 cricket competition that was played in Ireland. It was held from 18 May to 8 July 2018. It was the second edition of the competition to be played w ...

tournament, with 262 runs in six matches. He was also the leading run-scorer for

Leinster Lightning Leinster Lightning is an Ireland, Irish inter-provincial cricket team. They participate in the Inter-Provincial Championship, Inter-Provincial Cup and Inter-Provincial Trophy. The team is based in Dublin and is managed by Cricket Leinster. Hist ...

in the

2018 Inter-Provincial Championship The 2018 Inter-Provincial Championship was the sixth edition of the Inter-Provincial Championship, a first-class cricket competition played in Ireland. It was held from 1 May to 6 September 2018. It was the second edition of the competition to ...

, with 302 runs in four matches. In July 2019, Balbirnie was selected to play for the Dublin Chiefs in the inaugural edition of the

Euro T20 Slam The euro (symbol: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the eurozone. The euro is divided into 100 ...

cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled.

International career

Balbirnie was a member of Ireland's

2010 ICC World Cricket League Division One The 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division One was a cricket tournament which took place in July 2010 in the Netherlands. It formed part of the World Cricket League competition administered by the International Cricket Council, the international ...

winning team. During the tournament, he made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

debut for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, in what was also his debut

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

which came against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He played three further One Day Internationals during the tournament. In January 2015, Balbirnie was named in Ireland's 15 man squad for the

2015 Cricket World Cup The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by Aust ...

. Balbirnie made his

debut against Scotland on 19 June 2015, although no play was possible due to rain. In February 2016, Balbirnie was named in Ireland's 15 man squad for the

2016 T20 World Cup The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, a Twenty20 International cricket tournament that was held in India from 8 March to 3 April 2016, and was the first edi ...

. Balbirnie was part of the Ireland A team which toured Bangladesh in October 2017 to play one

first-class match First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

and five limited overs matches against the Bangladesh A team. In May 2018, Balbirnie was named in a 14-man squad for Ireland's first ever Test match, which was played against Pakistan later the same month. He made his Test debut for Ireland, against Pakistan, on 11 May 2018. He was dismissed for a

pair Pair or PAIR or Pairing may refer to: Government and politics * Pair (parliamentary convention), matching of members unable to attend, so as not to change the voting margin * ''Pair'', a member of the Prussian House of Lords * ''Pair'', the Fren ...

, therefore becoming the forty-fourth batsman, and first for Ireland, to get a pair on debut in Test cricket. In January 2019, Balbirnie was named in Ireland's squad for their one-off Test against Afghanistan in

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

, India. In May 2019, in the opening match of the

2019 Ireland Tri-Nation Series The 2019 Ireland Tri-Nation Series was a cricket tournament that was held from 5 to 17 May in Ireland. It was a tri-nation series featuring Bangladesh, Ireland and the West Indies, with all the matches played as One Day Internationals (ODIs). Th ...

against the West Indies, Balbirnie played in his 100th international match for Ireland. In September 2019, Balbirnie was named in Ireland's squad for the

2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier The 2019 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament held during October and November 2019 in the United Arab Emirates to determine the teams that would qualify for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. The six teams finis ...

tournament in the United Arab Emirates. In November 2019, Balbirnie was named as Ireland's all formats captain. On 10 July 2020, Balbirnie was named in Ireland's 21-man squad to travel to England to start training

behind closed doors Behind Closed Doors may refer to: Film, television and radio Film * ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1929 film), an early talkie starring Virginia Valli * Behind Closed Doors (1961 film), ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1961 film), an Italian comedy film by Dino ...

for the ODI series against the England cricket team. In the third and final match of the series, which Ireland won by seven wickets, Balbirnie scored his 2,000th run in ODI cricket. On 13 July 2021, Balbirnie led Ireland to their first ever ODI victory against South Africa. He also made his seventh ODI century in the match, scoring 102 off 117 deliveries before getting dismissed by

Kagiso Rabada Kagiso Rabada (born 25 May 1995) is a South African international cricketer who plays all formats of the game. He is a right arm fast bowler. He made his international debut in November 2014 in limited-overs cricket before going on to make his ...

. In September 2021, Balbirnie was named the captain of Ireland's provisional squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, a Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The tournament was hosted by Unit ...

. On 26 October 2022, Balbirnie scored a T20I half-century, scoring 62 off 47 deliveries to lead Ireland to a victory over England in the

2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the eighth edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20. It was played in Australia from 16 October to 13 November 2022. In the final, England cricket team, England beat Pakist ...

. On 4 July 2023, Balbirnie has stepped down from his captaincy in limited-overs cricket, after Ireland failed to qualify for the 2023 World Cup. In March 2024, Balbirnie led Ireland to its first win in Test cricket, against Afghanistan in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

, scoring an unbeaten half-century in the fourth innings. In May 2024, he was named in Ireland’s squad for the

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major ICC tournament to include matches played in the United ...

tournament.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balbirnie, Andrew 1990 births Living people Ireland Test cricketers Irish cricket captains Ireland One Day International cricketers Ireland Twenty20 International cricketers Cricketers from Dublin (city) Cardiff MCCU cricketers Middlesex cricketers Leinster Lightning cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup People educated at St Andrew's College, Dublin Wicket-keepers 21st-century Irish people Irish cricketers