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Friday 17 February 2012

Middlesex Statement on Murtagh for Ireland

After a fair bit of speculation and rumour-mongering (mostly by me), Middlesex have finally broken their silence about Tim Murtagh and his chances of playing for Ireland, in this statement from Gus here.

There isn't too much more said than we already know (which you will already know having read my earlier blog about this) - that Tim has applied for Irish citizenship, and recieved his Irish passport, which means he is eligible to play for Ireland. However, the club have confirmed that they will allow Tim to play in any game for Ireland, regardless of his Middlesex commitments, with Gus saying "it would be wrong for Middlesex to deprive a player from playing".

In terms of Middlesex games that Tim would potentially miss, as it stands Ireland only have one confirmed match, against Australia on the 23rd June, which means Tim would likely miss the away Sussex T20 the night before. The Middlesex statement also alludes to two as yet unconfirmed Afghanistan games, but these dates are yet to be nailed down.

Other than that, it should be business as usual for Tim. Gus talks about how Tim's played a full part in pre-season training and will be flying off to Cape Town with the team on Monday as planned. Ireland do have a World T20 qualifying tournament in March (which bizarrely Gareth Berg will be taking part in as an Italian player), but Tim wasn't picked in the Irish squad for that tournament, although he could yet be called up as a replacement.

That's pretty much all I know on the story - if I hear anything new I'll whack that up as soon as.