William Kyle McCallan (born 27 August 1975), usually known as Kyle McCallan, is a former 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. 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

off spin Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to r ...

bowler,Cricket Archive profile
/ref> he has played more times for 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 ...

than any other player, more than 40 caps ahead of the next player in the table, the retired Peter Gillespie. Only three players have captained Ireland more times than McCallan, and only Jason Molins has captained them to more wins. He has also played second XI

for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. He announced his retirement from international cricket on 2 December 2009, after a record 226 caps. He scored 3616 runs at an average of 23.33 and he also took 256 wickets. He also captained Ireland a record 54 times. His matches for Ireland include fifteen first-class matches,First-class matches played by Kyle McCallan
Cricket Archive 61

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 ...

matchesList A matches played by Kyle McCallan
Cricket Archive – 64 in total, three of which are for Northern Ireland and 19 One-Day Internationals,ODIs played by Kyle McCallan
Cricket Archive all of Ireland's ODIs to date. ist of Ireland ODIsCricket Archive He represented Ireland at the

2007 Cricket World Cup The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth Cricket World Cup, a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the 2 ...

,Ireland squad for the 2007 World Cup
CricketEurope and the ICC Trophy in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

.ICC Trophy matches played by Kyle McCallan
Cricket Archive He also represented Northern Ireland in the cricket tournament at the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ( Malay: ), officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games (Malay: ), were a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 1998 games were the first held in Asia and the last Commonwealth Games of the 20th cen ...

. McCallan was awarded the MBE in the

2010 Birthday Honours The 2010 Birthday Honours for the Commonwealth realms were announced to celebrate the Queen's Birthday on 7 June 2010 in New Zealand, on 12 June 2010 in the United Kingdom, The Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Sai ...

for his services to cricket.

Playing career

1990s

McCallan made his debut for Ireland on 2 June 1996, playing against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

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 ...

,CricketEurope Stats Zone profile
/ref> taking a wicket with his first delivery. He scored his first

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

in his following match, against the MCC in

Malahide Malahide ( ; ) is an affluent coastal settlement in Fingal, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, situated north of Dublin city. It has a village centre surrounded by suburban housing estates, with a population of 18,608 as per the 2022 ...

. He made his List A debut later in the month, playing in the

NatWest Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. Lan ...

against

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. He was named in the Ireland squad for the 1996 Triple Crown Tournament in

, but only played one match, against the hosts. He was also named in Ireland's squad for the first

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

that year, again playing just one game, against

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. The year finished for McCallan with a match 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 ...

, which marked his first-class debut. He was not named in Ireland's squad for the

1997 ICC Trophy The Carlsberg 1997 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between 24 March and 13 April 1997. It was the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Bangladesh were the winners of the ...

, but did become a regular member of the team after the tournament. He played

Benson & Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Engla ...

matches against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

and

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

before a NatWest Trophy match against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

in 1997, before playing in the Triple Crown Tournament. The year continued with a first-class match against Scotland, a match against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in which he scored 64

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

, a match against the Earl of Arundel's XI and a match against the MCC at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

, before a busy 1998 in which he played 22 times for Ireland. The busy 1998 started for McCallan with Benson & Hedges Cup matches against

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

and Middlesex, before matches against the MCC and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and a NatWest Trophy game against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

. It continued with the Triple Crown Tournament, two matches against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and the European Championship. Several matches against Australia A in August, one of which was first-class, served as preparation for the 1998 Commonwealth Games, where McCallan represented Northern Ireland, playing against South Africa,

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

and Bangladesh. The final year of the 20th century was a quiet one for Kyle McCallan's cricket career when compared to 1998. NatWest Trophy matches against

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

and the Essex Cricket Board were followed by six matches against the South Africa Cricket Academy and a match against the MCC.

21st century

The first event in 2000 for McCallan was the ICC Emerging Nations Tournament in

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, playing against Scotland,

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

in addition to the host's A team. The summer started with a NatWest Trophy match against

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

and two matches each against the MCC and

. He then captained Ireland in the 2000 European Championship which was followed by a first-class match against Scotland. Three matches against the MCC and a match against the Earl of Arundel's XI in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

served as warm-up for Ireland served as warm-ups for the 2001 ICC Trophy, which McCallan captained Ireland in. He was one of two Irish bowlers to take ten

wickets In the sport of cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is either of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at each end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a ...

in the tournament and was named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Returning to Ireland, he played a match against Australia before the Triple Crown Tournament in EnglandOther matches played by Kyle McCallan
Cricket Archive and a C & G Trophy match against the Hampshire Cricket Board. A C & G Trophy match against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

started 2002 for McCallan, before a match against West Indies A in June. This was followed by the European Championship, a match against the MCC and a C & G Trophy match against

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. Two matches against Zimbabwe were his first matches the following year, the first of which Ireland won by ten wickets. He played several more matches that year, including internationals against South Africa and Denmark. In 2004, McCallan played two C & G Trophy matches against Surrey and

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, before two matches against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, the second of which Ireland won by six wickets. He also played that year against the MCC, an

ICC Intercontinental Cup The ICC Intercontinental Cup was a first-class cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as part of its cricket development programme. It was designed to allow List of International Cricket Council members, Associ ...

match against the Netherlands and the European Championship before two matches against Bangladesh. The main event in 2005 for Kyle McCallan was the ICC Trophy. Ireland finished second in the tournament, thus qualifying for the 2007 World Cup. After the ICC Trophy finished, McCallan represented Ireland in their

2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup The 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup was the second edition of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, a cricket competition for (then) 12 nations from Asia, Africa, North America and Europe. All the games were scheduled for three days and were designated ...

matches against Scotland and the Netherlands. Ireland qualified for the semi-finals in

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

, where McCallan played in the semi-final against the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

before playing a key role in the final against Kenya. He took 4/34 in the Kenyan second

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). In cricket and rounders, "innings" is ...

, and was named joint man of the match with Andrew White. The following year, 2006, was a busy one for Irish cricket as they prepared to make their World Cup debut and McCallan was a key part of their side. In the early part of the year, he played in several C & G Trophy games against various English county sides and a

2006 ICC Intercontinental Cup 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...

match against

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

before playing his first ODI against

, also Ireland's first ODI. The year continued with the European Championship and a further Intercontinental Cup match against Scotland in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

2007 World Cup

Ireland's build up to their first

Cricket World Cup The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup is a quadrennial world cup for cricket in One Day International (ODI) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament is one of the world's most viewed sporting events and consid ...

appearance in March 2007 started with a trip to

in January/February to play in Division One of the

World Cricket League The ICC World Cricket League (WCL) was a series of international one-day cricket tournaments for national teams without Test status (i.e., teams of Associate status) administered by the International Cricket Council. All Associate Members of ...

, playing ODIs against

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, Kenya, the Netherlands and Scotland. This was followed by an Intercontinental Cup match against the UAE 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 ...

, before Ireland travelled to the

to play in the World Cup. The World Cup itself started with a tied match against Zimbabwe, before Ireland beat

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# ...

. Ireland qualified for the Super 8 stage of the tournament, during which they beat Bangladesh, and finished in eighth place in a sixteen team tournament they were outright outsiders for. McCallan was present in all of these matches, and has played in all of Ireland's ODI's to date. Back home, McCallan continued to play for Ireland, playing several matches against English county sides in the

Friends Provident Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class cricket, first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scott ...

. He played in the final of the Intercontinental Cup against Canada, which Ireland again won. He also played in Ireland's ODIs against South Africa and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Statistics

In all matches for Ireland as of 10 June 2007 McCallan scored 3020 runs at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 23.05, with two scores of exactly 100, against the MCC in his second match, and against Wales in July 1998. He has taken 185 wickets at an

of 30.66, with best innings bowling figures of 5/23 against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in July 2000. The other time he took five wickets in an innings was against Canada in the final of the 2006 Intercontinental Cup where he took 5/34. His run total is the fifth highest for Ireland and his wicket tally is the sixth highest. In first-class cricket, his top score is 65, against Scotland, and his best innings bowling is 5/34, in the Intercontinental Cup final against Canada. In List A cricket, his top score is 53 not out against Bangladesh for Northern Ireland. His best List A innings bowling is 4/36 against Kenya, also his best ODI bowling. His top-score in ODIs is 50 not out against the Netherlands.ODI batting against each opponent by Kyle McCallan
Cricket Archive He made his 225th appearance for Ireland in their 22 August 2009 ODI win over Scotland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCallan, Kyle 1975 births Living people Cricketers from County Antrim Ireland One Day International cricketers Ireland Twenty20 International cricketers Irish cricket captains Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Sportspeople from Carrickfergus Members of the Order of the British Empire Commonwealth Games competitors for Northern Ireland Irish cricketers