Photo Credit: Sam Navarro
Cricket Ireland has today released its central playing contract lists for men and women with a total of 48 players now contracted, including a record number of full-time contracts handed to women.
Player contracts were finalised and distributed following agreement between Cricket Ireland and the Irish Cricketers’ Association (ICA) on the remuneration structure and terms and conditions of player contracts last month.
The central contracts list is:
Ireland Men
Full-time contracts
- Mark Adair (Lisburn/Northern Knights)
- Ross Adair (CIYMS/Northern Knights)
- Andrew Balbirnie (Pembroke/Leinster Lightning)
- Curtis Campher (Clontarf/Munster Reds)
- Gareth Delany (Leinster/Munster Reds)
- George Dockrell (Phoenix/Leinster Lightning)
- Stephen Doheny (Merrion/North West Warriors)
- Matthew Foster (CSNI/Northern Knights)
- Fionn Hand (Clontarf/Leinster Lightning)
- Graham Hume (Waringstown/North West Warriors)
- Josh Little (Pembroke/Leinster Lightning)
- Andy McBrine (Donemana/North West Warriors)
- Barry McCarthy (Pembroke/Leinster Lightning)
- James McCollum (Waringstown/Northern Knights)
- PJ Moor (Clontarf/Munster Reds)
- Neil Rock (Instonians/Northern Knights)
- Paul Stirling (N/A/Northern Knights)
- Harry Tector (Pembroke/Leinster Lightning)
- Lorcan Tucker (Pembroke/Leinster Lightning)
- Ben White (Phoenix/Munster Reds)
- Craig Young (North Down/North West Warriors)
Retainer contracts
- Gavin Hoey (Pembroke/Leinster Lightning)
- Matthew Humphreys (Lisburn/Northern Knights)
- Tom Mayes (Waringstown/Northern Knights)
- Liam McCarthy (Railway Union/Munster Reds)
Ireland Women
Full-time contracts:
- Alana Dalzell (Bready/Dragons)
- Laura Delany (Leinster/Typhoons)
- Arlene Kelly (Malahide/Dragons)
- Gaby Lewis (Phoenix/Scorchers)
- Louise Little (Pembroke/Dragons)
- Sophie MacMahon (Leinster/Scorchers)
- Jane Maguire (The Hills/Scorchers)
- Cara Murray (Waringstown/Clontarf/Dragons)
- Leah Paul (Merrion/Scorchers)
- Orla Prendergast (Pembroke/Dragons)
- Freya Sargent (Clontarf/Typhoons)
- Rebecca Stokell (Merrion/Typhoons)
Education contracts:
- Ava Canning (Leinster/Typhoons)
- Georgina Dempsey (Phoenix/Typhoons)
- Sarah Forbes (Pembroke/Typhoons)
- Amy Hunter (Instonians/Dragons)
- Joanna Loughran (Leinster/Typhoons)
- Aimee Maguire (The Hills/Scorchers)
Casual contracts:
- Christina Coulter Reilly (Clontarf/Scorchers)
- Abbi Harrison (Waringstown/Dragons)
- Kia McCartney (Coleraine/Dragons)
- Alice Tector (Phoenix/Scorchers)
Retainer contract:
- Una Raymond-Hoey (Ringwood)
CONTRACT TYPES
- Full–time contracts – engage players on a full-time employment basis.
- Education contracts – designed to work around players who are at school full-time or studying at a tertiary level. Players on these contracts gain a significant living allowance to ensure they do not need to find a job during their education years, and can instead concentrate on their cricket. All these players will be available full-time in the summer holidays.
- Casual contracts – offer players a retainer throughout the summer holidays, loss of earnings for the remainder of the year, match fees, 12-month medical and healthcare insurance, sports science support (physiotherapy, strength and conditioning, psychology, performance analysis, nutrition and lifestyle management), specialist coaching support, and for ROI-based players, full access to the Sport Ireland Institute.
- Retainer contracts – engage players for a specific number of days or specific series, with entitlements similar to casual contracts.
THEY SAID…
Ciara O’Brien, Women’s National Selector, said:
“Women’s cricket continues to progress, and I am delighted that we have been able to increase the number of full-time contracts offered to a record 12 this year.
“We have a young but exceptionally talented cohort of players – although their average age is just over 21, it is a group of players who have built up a great deal of experience in the last few years.
“This year we are also welcoming the return of Una Raymond-Hoey to the Irish set-up on a retainer basis. Una, who has 15 caps for Ireland, has spent the last five years in Australia – playing cricket and rising through the ranks of representing Victoria, and being part of the Melbourne Stars squad in the Women’s Big Bash.
“My congratulations to all players receiving contracts for 2024. I look forward to a busy year ahead and watching them all grow in stature and profile on the world stage.”
Andrew White, Men’s National Selector, said:
“As our talent pool grows, so too does the challenge of selecting central contracts. With an increasing volume of cricket to play both home and away, our need to nurture and develop the talent to compete at the highest level becomes more acute and selecting the right mix of players to receive central contracts is one of the most consequential decisions we can make as an organisation. Our players are our assets, and we are constantly monitoring, reviewing and discussing the progress and performances of or players to ensure we have the best talent available to the head coach and captain.
“We welcome the recent news about Heinrich Malan’s contract extension and I look forward to continuing to work with him in shaping the direction and succession planning of the squad over coming years.
“I congratulate the players receiving contracts in 2024 and look forward to seeing that steady progress and development of the last few years turn into regular success on the field of play.”
Richard Holdsworth, High Performance Director for Cricket Ireland, said:
“We’re announcing these contracts on the eve of our senior men’s side taking on India at the Men’s T20 World Cup. Indeed, that is what central contracts are fundamentally about – to develop our players to compete at the highest levels against the best sides in the world.
“The investment we put into these players goes beyond the financial. It also includes the coaching and support staff we put in place to support them, the hundreds of hours these players train and hone their craft, the self-development programmes we put them through, and the hard work of many staff, consultants and volunteers who go above and beyond to ensure the players are supported in their work.
“Indeed, one of the areas we are most proud of are the healthcare and lifestyle support services we have packaged up that players can avail of. These are there to ensure the players are given the best platform to succeed and are concentrating on their cricket, first and foremost.
“The High Performance programme also understands that the development and progress of players comes mainly through playing competitive cricket at a high level. While it has been a busy 2024 to date, we are set for an even busier climax to the summer across the men’s and women’s programmes. As such, recognising and rewarding our best talent through central contracts can play a major role in the advancement of Irish cricket, and I look forward to seeing what we can achieve as a cricket nation over the coming years.”
