Delany sees a big year for Ireland in 2022

Gareth Delany is looking forward to a busy 2022 cricket calendar for Ireland, which he hopes will allow him to cement his spot in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.

Delany top-scored with 47 against Oman in the semi-finals of the ‘A’ Qualifier earlier this year, ensuring Ireland’s eighth consecutive berth in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.

With so much white-ball cricket on the horizon, the 24-year-old all-rounder is hoping to improve his chances of making it to the the final group that will fly to Australia.

“Given the nature of T20Is, it’s probably harder to put together a consistent run of good performances,” Delany said in an interview with Cricket Ireland.

“However, if I can put in some match-winning performances with the bat and ball for Munster at Inter-Pro level, and perform at international level during the home internationals, it puts me in a good position to be part of that World Cup squad come October.”

Ireland has an exciting summer of cricket ahead of them. In the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, they will compete against India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Afghanistan at home.

Delany feels that all of the international activities will draw large numbers, posing a significant challenge for Ireland.

“Cricket is having a fantastic summer.”

“When the India games were announced, there was a lot of excitement among the group, especially considering the huge crowds and atmosphere they had when they were here in 2018.”

“As a group, we want to play as much cricket as possible against top teams, and that will undoubtedly be the case this summer”, he added.

Delany was a member of the Ireland squad that travelled to the United Arab Emirates for the T20 World Cup in 2021. Ireland was knocked out of the tournament in the first round, with only a single victory.

Despite increased competition for spots on the team, Delany’s spot appears to be safe.

However, his recent travels with Ireland’s ‘A’ side against Namibia have given him the confidence to break back into the team and solidify his place.

Delany has also stated his desire to play in the ODI series.

“I’d like to think I can break into the team, but the ODI side has been extremely strong for a long time, and there’s a lot of competition for spots with individuals who have put in some excellent performances.”

“So the only thing I can think about now is putting in some continuous excellent performances during the summer to keep pushing myself into contention”, he remarked.