Stirling to Lead Ireland Into First-Ever Bilateral ODI Series Against Namibia

Ireland will take on Namibia in a five-match ODI series later this month, with veteran opener Paul Stirling confirmed to lead a 16-player squad on the tour. The series runs from October 22 to November 1 in Windhoek, and it will be the first-ever meeting between the two sides in men's one-day internationals, as well as their maiden bilateral ODI arrangement. Ireland's second-string Wolves side has faced Namibia before — in South Africa in 2020 and at home in 2022 — but the senior teams have never gone head-to-head in the format. The schedule packs all five games into an 11-day window, with the first ODI on October 22, the second two days later, the third on October 27, the fourth on October 30 and the finale on November 1. Stirling's squad blends experience and youth, with established names such as Andrew Balbirnie, Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker joined by less familiar faces including Ben Calitz, Cade Carmichael, Byron McDonough and Jai Moondra. The tour carries extra significance with the 2027 ODI World Cup — hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia — now firmly on the horizon, and Cricket Ireland's high performance director Graeme West has framed the trip as a valuable chance for players to acclimatise to the region's conditions and measure themselves against a potential future opponent. Namibia themselves arrive battle-hardened, having hosted South Africa for an ODI series last month.