Photo Credit: Cricket Ireland
Munster Reds and Carrickfergus batting all-rounder Jeremy Lawlor has not regretted one minute of his move to Irish cricket, with the top-order batter looking forward to the Ireland Wolves’ month-long tour of Bangladesh starting today.
The tour is scheduled from 17 February to 19 March 2021, and will see the Wolves play a multi-format eight-match series against Bangladesh A.
The 25-year old Welsh-born Lawlor, an Irish passport-holder, has played first-class cricket for Glamorgan Cricket Club, spent a season at Phoenix in Dublin, and recently signed for Carrickfergus ahead of the 2021 season. He is a right-handed top-order batsman who bowls a lively fast medium pace as well as off spin.
Speaking from ahead of today’s departure for Bangladesh, Lawlor said:
“My grandfather was Irish and grew up in Arklow, so playing for Ireland was something I had thought about for a good few years now. I was looking into playing for the under-19’s at the time – it was something that my coach at the time John Derrick helped me look into – but the qualification criteria back then was different. But when Ireland became a Test nation, the qualification criteria changed and once my time at Glamorgan had finished, I thought there could be a potential opportunity in coming here.”
“I’ve been playing cricket since I can remember really as a kid, along with rugby and football. As I got older, I also played a lot of Squash – I found there were huge crossover benefits of playing Squash and batting.”
“Cricket then started taking over and I signed my first contract with Glamorgan when I finished school. For any cricketer growing up in Wales, playing for Glamorgan is a huge honour, and also being fortunate enough to play alongside a lot of great mates who I had grown up playing with in the age groups is also something that I hold dear to me when looking back at my time there.”
“[Current Head of Physio for Ireland] Mark Rausa was there at Glamorgan at the time – he was a very popular character in the changing rooms, and just goes to show how small the cricket world is at times.”
His introduction to Irish cricket was a positive one last year, despite the pandemic:
“I really enjoyed my time playing cricket last season, to get any cricket in at all was a result within itself considering the situation we were in with Covid and the lockdowns. I owe a big thank you to Phoenix for helping me get over and settled here, as well as Ted Williamson and the Munster Reds for allowing me to play for them.”
“Obviously I was extremely delighted to get the call up for this tour – we had been training for the past few months so knew that there would be a chance of getting on the trip, but when I got told it officially from Andrew White it was a great feeling.”
Lawlor is happy to progress his bowling, but a batter is what we believes is his main attribute:
“My main role is being a batter. I can bowl a little bit, but it’s not my main string and have also had a couple of injuries with it along the way, but it’s definitely something I want to continue working on.”
And downtime in the bio-bubble will not be a problem for him:
“This is my longest period away with a team, albeit I have done a couple of seasons as an overseas player in Australia and had a few trips with Glamorgan. The downtime in the bio-bubble won’t be a problem – I quite enjoy Netflix, am a big fan of a good crime thriller and documentaries. I also have an Investment Management exam in a couple of months’ time, so hopefully, I can get my teeth into some of that in the downtime we have.”
THE TOUR
The fixtures will be:
• 26 February to 1 March 2021 – Four-day game: Bangladesh A v Ireland Wolves (Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram)
• 5 March 2021 – 50-over match: Bangladesh A v Ireland Wolves (Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram)
• 7 March 2021 – 50-over match: Bangladesh A v Ireland Wolves (Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram)
• 9 March 2021 – 50-over match: Bangladesh A v Ireland Wolves (Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram)
• 12 March 2021 – 50-over match: Bangladesh A v Ireland Wolves (Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka)
• 14 March 2021 – 50-over match: Bangladesh A v Ireland Wolves (Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka)
• 17 March 2021 – T20 match: Bangladesh A v Ireland Wolves (Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka)
• 18 March 2021 – T20 match: Bangladesh A v Ireland Wolves (Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka)
SQUAD
The Ireland Wolves squad is:
Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Peter Chase, Gareth Delany, Stephen Doheny, Jonathan Garth, Shane Getkate, Graham Hume, Jeremy Lawlor, Josh Little, James McCollum, Ruhan Pretorius, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White.
