Barry McCarthy: ‘I feel in good form, it’s time to make the most of it’

Ireland's Barry McCarthy bowls. Picture: INPHO/Oisin Keniry

It didn’t take long for Barry McCarthy to announce himself on the international scene.

With just his second ball of his One-Day International (ODI) debut, he took his first wicket in the green of Ireland. With his seventh delivery, he claimed a second victim in what turned out to be a heavy loss to Sri Lanka in 2016.

Early in his career, the wickets kept flowing. He achieved his 50th dismissal in just his 25th match — the fastest Irishman to the feat and the joint-seventh fastest to reach the landmark in the sport’s history — tied with legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne.

While injury meant he got less game time than most in the pandemic-hit 2020, the shine hasn’t gleamed off the golden arm. In this year’s Inter-Provincial Cup he took 17 wickets in six games — more than double the tally of any other player — as Leinster Lightning retained the title.

With the momentum of a successful domestic campaign behind him, McCarthy will play a key role as Ireland head to the Netherlands for the World Cup Super League series against the Dutch, which begins in Utrecht tomorrow before games on Friday and Monday.

It is a run of form that the Dubliner isn’t taking for granted, however.

“It was nice first and foremost to play this year,” McCarthy told the Irish Examiner. “I was unlucky last year, I got injured in the England game and missed all of inter-pro cricket so it was just nice to get back and play cricket with the lads. Six games is six more than I got last season.

“(It was) nice to start off the season with a couple of wickets and contribute to what was a good win in the end for Leinster.

“Personally, I feel in good form, it’s time to make the most of it. But, you know, form is never guaranteed, you still have to work for it.

“I’m not going to take my form for granted into the first ODI. It’s a fresh start, I’ll keep working on the disciplines that I want to perform on for me to be at my best and hopefully I can play a big part in the three games.”

Tomorrow is the Netherlands’ bow in the competition while for Ireland it is their third of eight three-match series. The top eight teams in the 13-team Super League book their ticket for the next 50-over World Cup in India in 2023, with the other five battling it out in the cut-throat global qualifier along with the best of the second tier of cricketing nations.

The number crunchers believe 10 wins will see a team earn that coveted top-eight spot, however, with just six of 24 games played, it is far too early to worry about that, McCarthy insists.

“At the moment that’s very, very far down the road, we’ve only played two series. That might be something that we look at if we have one or two series left but it’s so early on in the campaign it’s just about focusing on every game and just trying to accumulate as many points as we can.”

After the stop-start nature of 2020 across the sporting landscape, not least in cricket, the games will now come thick and fast for Ireland in 2021.

After the three games in Utrecht, the home summer sees South Africa and Zimbabwe come over to play a dozen games between July 11 and August 20.

Then there is the World T20 to look forward to in October with India due to host but there are contingency plans being put in place as officials monitor the pandemic situation in the region.

It all adds up to a big year ahead for Barry McCarthy and Ireland.

But first, a big week in Utrecht.

Ireland squad (ODI series vs Netherlands):

Andrew Balbirnie (captain), Mark Adair, George Dockrell, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Graeme McCarter, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O’Brien, William Porterfield, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.

Travelling reserves:

Peter Chase, Stephen Doheny, Graham Kennedy, David O’Halloran.