Chair of Selectors Andrew Cowden commented on the first IP20 squad announcement of the season:
After a promising start to our IP50 campaign, we now turn our focus to the first of three IP20 festivals.
The selectors have selected a squad of 13 for the festival with Paul Stirling and Mark Adair both unavailable due to playing in the test match against England. James McCollum was due to be available but is now ruled out due to suffering an ankle injury during the test match. Max Burton and John Matchett are unavailable due to work/exam commitments.
In addition to the two players already out on loan, we have agreed to another two short-term loan deals. Josh Manley will join Munster Reds for this festival only to maximise his IP playing opportunities. Josh still remains a big part of our plans for this season. We have also agreed to a short-term loan deal for Ryan Hunter who will also join Munster Reds for this festival to aid his development and maximise his IP playing opportunities. Ryan remains a huge part of our future plans.
There are three new call-ups to the squad in Jason Van der Merwe, Finn Lutton and Harry Dyer. Jason has been rewarded with this opportunity on the back of an excellent 2022 season, an incredible ECL and a great start to the 2023 season. We’re also excited by the manner in which Jason has been scoring his runs.
Finn and Harry, two Ireland U19 squad members, have come up through our pathway and are being rewarded for their 1st XI performances over the last 12 months. This will be a great experience for Finn and Harry to be in the Knights environment, and we hope this will accelerate their learning and development.
Finally, Neil Rock will again captain the team in the absence of Mark and James and I’d like to wish Neil and his team all the best for the first festival.
The Munster Festival takes place on 6-8 June at Cork County CC.
Northern Knights squad for IP20 Festival
Neil Rock (Captain and WK)
Ross Adair
Cade Carmichael
Harry Dyer
Matthew Foster
Matthew Humphreys
Tyron Koen
Finn Lutton
Tom Mayes
Morgan Topping
Jason Van der Merwe
Ruhan Pretorius
Theo van Woerkom
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