Stirling one of four Irish selected for Pretoria

Cricket: Paul Stirling was one of four Irish players to be selected to attend next month’s ICC batting camp in Pretoria, South Africa.

Stirling, 19, along with Alex Cusack, Kevin O’Brien and Gary Wilson, who today signed a new two-year deal with Surrey, will make the trip along with national coach Phil Simmons.

Stirling sees it as a great opportunity to work on his game ahead of the Under-19 World Cup that takes place in New Zealand in January.

“The coaches are some of the most experienced and highly rated in world cricket, and I’m hoping they will be able to advise me on various aspects of my batting,” said Stirling.

It’s perfect preparation for me ahead of the Under-19 World Cup. I’m sure they’ll identify any weaknesses in my technique and work on rectifying it.”

The batting camp, which runs from November 16th to 28th, involves players from the top six Associate nations undergo coaching from former international stars such as Australian wicket-keeper Rod Marsh and Pakistan opening batsman Mudassar Nazar.