Paul Stirling

Paul Robert Stirling is an Irish international cricketer and the current captain of the senior national team in white-ball cricket. He was born on 3 September 1990 in Belfast, Ireland. Stirling is a right-handed top-order batsman who can be handy with his right-arm off-breaks as well. He has represented the senior national side in all three formats of international cricket and currently plays for Northern Knights in Irish domestic cricket. He is one of the top 10 run scorers in T20 internationals and one of the eleven cricketers to play in Ireland's first-ever Test match, against Pakistan, in May 2018.

Stirling debuted in first-class cricket in March 2008, playing for Ireland in the Intercontinental Cup. Having represented Middlesex’s youth sides and Second XI, Stirling signed a contract with the club in December 2009. A month later he was awarded a contract with Cricket Ireland, making him one of six players with a full-time contract with the board. He made his T20 and List A debuts for Middlesex in 2010 and 2011 respectively. In July 2009, Stirling scored his maiden first-class century. In Ireland's opening match of the 2009-10 ICC Intercontinental Cup, he opened the batting with Jeremy Bray and in the first innings scored 100. Stirling was a member of the Squad that participated in the 2010 Under-19 World Cup hosted by New Zealand in January. The team was runners-up to Bangladesh in the Plate Championship, finishing tenth overall out of 16 teams. Stirling was the team's leading run-scorer, with 209 from five matches.

After the 2011 Cricket World Cup, Stirling broke into Middlesex's one-day side during the 2011 season, making his List A debut for the club on 24 April against Worcestershire. Although Middlesex failed to progress beyond the group stages of the 2011 Clydesdale Bank 40, Stirling enjoyed personal success. Scoring 535 runs from 12 matches, he was Middlesex's leading run-scorer and 7th in the competition. Towards the end of the competition, Stirling struck his first century in Middlesex colors, scoring 109 runs from 81 balls to a 34-run win over Derbyshire.

On 7 September 2010, during an ODI against Canada, Stirling made his maiden List A century, scoring 177 runs. In doing so, Stirling made the highest individual score for Ireland in a One Day International. Stirling was selected in Ireland's 15-man squad for the 2011 World Cup. Ireland won two out of six matches, which was not sufficient to progress beyond the group stage but finished on a high by beating the Netherlands. Chasing 307 to win on a batting-friendly wicket, Stirling opened the batting with team captain William Porterfield. The pair shared a partnership of 177 runs, setting a new record for Ireland's first wicket in ODIs. Stirling fell for 101, his century coming off 70 deliveries, which made it the fourth-fastest in World Cup history at that time. A side made up of some of the best players from Associate and Affiliate teams was put together to face England in Dubai in January 2012. The three-day match was part of England's preparation for a series against Pakistan later that month. Stirling was one of four Ireland players included in the 12-man squad.

In May 2018, he was named in a fourteen-man squad for Ireland's first-ever Test match, which was played against Pakistan later the same month. He made his Test debut for Ireland, against Pakistan, on 11 May 2018. He scored 17 runs in the first innings and became the first Irish batsman to score a boundary in Test cricket. In January 2019, he was named in Ireland's squad for their one-off Test against Afghanistan in India. In September 2019, he was named in Ireland's squad for the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in the United Arab Emirates. He was the leading run-scorer in the tournament, with 291 runs in eight matches. In June 2020, he was named as the vice-captain of the Ireland cricket team. On 10 July 2020, Stirling was named in Ireland's 21-man squad to travel to England to start training behind closed doors for the ODI series against the England cricket team. In January 2021, in Ireland's series against Afghanistan, Stirling scored his 12th century, the most by a cricketer for Ireland in ODIs. In September 2021, Stirling was named in Ireland's provisional squad for the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. In January 2022, Stirling captained Ireland for the first time in ODIs, in the second match against the West Indies, after Andy Balbirnie was ruled out of the match due to COVID-19. In the same match, Stirling also became the first cricketer for Ireland to score 5,000 runs in ODIs.

Stirling has also played franchise cricket all across the globe. In September 2018, he was named in Kandahar's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament. The following month, he was named in Paarl Rocks’ squad for the first edition of the Mzansi Super League T20 tournament. He signed a contract with Northamptonshire for the 2020 Vitality t20 Blast on 31 January 2020. In October 2020, he was drafted by the Dambulla Vikings for the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League. In February 2021 Stirling was signed by Islamabad United as a replacement player. In December 2021, he was signed by Islamabad United following the players' draft for the 2022 Pakistan Super League. He played the first five games of the PSL for Islamabad United before leaving for international duty with Ireland but then returned to Islamabad United before their eliminator game against Lahore Qalandars.

In August 2010, Stirling was nominated in the "Emerging Player of the Year" and "Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year" categories for the ICC Awards. He was the only associate member to be nominated in the "Emerging Player" category, the other 15 players coming from Test-playing countries. He did not make the shortlist in either category. In the annual ICC Awards in January 2022, Stirling was included in the ICC Men’s ODI Team for the year 2021.