Friday 18 November 2011

George Dockrell...

George Dockrell

Arguably the greatest bowling prospect that I've come across in the Irish cricket team, he's a slow left-arm orthodox bowler.

Dockrell has being present in the Irish team from the U-13 level to the senior team. He made his debut for Ireland A in 2008, in the same year he was invited to coaching sessions with Somerset County Cricket Club.

After the 2007 Cricket World Cup Ireland had lost the use of their two most experienced spinners in Kyle Mcallan when he retired, then Regan West was forced to retire due to injury. A spinner was needed to fill their roles, especially the role of Kyle McCallan one of Ireland's best bowlers and one of the Worlds most underrated bowlers.

Young Dockrell was given his chance for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier and the 2010 Quadrangular Twenty20 Series in Sri Lanka. His debut match Twenty20 match against Afghanistan was also his Twenty20 International debut. He returned with figures of 2-11, which helped Ireland to a comfortable 5 wicket win.

Ireland did indeed qualify for the T20 Cricket World Cup. George was given his chance on the big stage when he was selected in the Ireland squad for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. In which he became the tournament's youngest player and produced a leading role against the West Indies in Ireland's first game. He finished with 3-16 and he put his name in the world stage, he remained wicketless against England in the second game but only conceded 19 runs and caused English batsman Kevin Pietersen awful trouble.

On the 18th of July, Dockrell signed a contract with English county side Somerset, he signed a two-year contract. He's been a strong part of the Irish senior side ever since and was selected in the 15-man squad for the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

While Dockrell is known as a bowler, he is a handy batsman. He comes in to bat for Ireland at No.10 which really extends the tail of the Irish team. He showed his batting credentials in a recent four-day ICC Intercontinental Cup game, he was to come in with Ireland in a very bad situation on 154/7 but with the last known batsman Andrew White still in, there was a strong need for a big partnership to be made. And the two put on 100 for the 8th wicket and Dockrell made his first first class fifty. Which settled the Irish innings and Ireland went on to win the game by 5 wickets against Namibia, he also picked up figures of 8-112.

George Dockrell is one of the brightest cricketing prospects to not only come out of Ireland, but World Cricket. So much is his talent, you feel England won't be too far behind trying to select him. If Ireland are to go to the next level we need players like George. There is not much Ireland can do right now to keep him from the lure of Test cricket. Just hope he can realise his potential with Ireland. One thing for sure is that George is a future star of cricket, and all Irish fans hope he will be wearing the green of Ireland for many more years to come.

1 comment:

  1. Haha.. I said the same thing about him that you did on cricforum.

    I really hope Ireland gets to be a strong team in its own right.

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