Gary Craig Wilson (born 5 February 1986) is a former Irish

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, who is a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

and right-handed batsman. He played for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in Tests, One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals, with his first appearance for the national side coming in 2005. He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Ireland's first ever

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

, against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, in May 2018. In June 2018, he was named captain of Ireland's

T20I A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

side, a role he held until November 2019. On 19 March 2021, Wilson announced his retirement from professional cricket.

Domestic and T20 career

Two years later, in 2006, he participated in the competition for the second time, when his team finished in thirteenth place. He has played county cricket for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in England's domestic competitions, having previously appeared for

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

.He had played for Surrey's first team from 2008 to 2016. He was Surrey captain for the latter part of the 2014 season, following injury to

Graeme Smith Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed captain of the national team, taking over from Shaun Pollock. He held th ...

, and was awarded his cap in the same season. Wilson signed a three-year contract with Derbyshire on 19 September 2016, and the following year, he captained the club to the quarterfinals of the T20 Blast, only the second time Derbyshire had gone so far in the competition In a match against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

in August 2010, Wilson scored his maiden first-class century, beating his previous best score of 62. His 125 runs came from 235 balls while batting at number six. It has been harder work securing a county starting berth, as he has been tried in different top-order positions without consistent success, but Surrey have persisted with him in the middle order and he was a regular starter in 2013, making only his second Championship hundred. Wilson played for the

Northern Knights The Northern Knights is an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based in Preston, representing the northern suburban area of Melbourne. The Knights a ...

in the

2018 Inter-Provincial Trophy The 2018 Inter-Provincial Trophy was the sixth edition of the Inter-Provincial Trophy, a Twenty20 cricket competition that was played in Ireland. It was held from 18 May to 8 July 2018. It was the second edition of the competition to be played w ...

, featuring in one match against

Munster Reds Munster Reds is an Irish inter-provincial cricket team based in Cork, in the province of Munster. In April 2017, Cricket Ireland approved the participation of the team in the Interprovincial Twenty20 Cup, the highest level of T20 domestic cri ...

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Belfast Titans in the inaugural edition of the

Euro T20 Slam The Euro T20 Slam is a planned professional Twenty20 cricket league. The first edition of the tournament was initially scheduled to start in August 2019, with matches to be held in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. It's launch has been post ...

cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled.

International career

Wilson played for Ireland in the

2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup The 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup was the second edition of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, a cricket competition for (then) 12 nations from Asia, Africa, North America and Europe. All the games were scheduled for three days and were designated ...

. He made his Irish ODI debut against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

on 23 June 2007 at Stormont. Wilson was selected in Ireland's 15-man squad for the 2011 World Cup. During the tournament it was announced that Wilson had agreed to extend his contract with Surrey to 2012. In May 2018, he was named in a fourteen-man squad for Ireland's first ever

, to be played against Pakistan later that month. He made his Test debut in the match, starting on 11 May 2018. The following month, he was named as the captain of Ireland's

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) squad for the 2018 Netherlands Tri-Nation Series. In December 2018, he was one of nineteen players to be awarded a central contract by

Cricket Ireland Cricket Ireland, officially the Irish Cricket Union, is the national governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and oversees the national men's and women's cricket teams. It also org ...

for the 2019 season. In January 2020, he was one of nineteen players to be awarded a central contract from

, the first year in which all contracts were awarded on a full-time basis. On 3 May 2019, Wilson played in his 100th ODI match, in the one-off fixture between Ireland and England in

Malahide Malahide ( ; ) is an affluent coastal settlement in Fingal, County Dublin, Ireland, situated north of Dublin city. It has a village centre surrounded by suburban housing estates, with a population of over 17,000. Malahide Castle dates from th ...

. In September 2019, he was named as the captain of Ireland's squad for the

2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier The 2019 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament held during October and November 2019 in the United Arab Emirates to determine which teams would qualify for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. The six teams finishing ...

tournament in the United Arab Emirates. On 10 July 2020, Wilson 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. On 19 March 2021, Wilson announced his retirement from professional cricket.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Gary 1986 births Ireland Test cricketers Ireland One Day International cricketers Ireland Twenty20 International cricketers Irish cricketers Living people Surrey cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup People educated at Methodist College Belfast People from Dundonald, County Down Cricketers from Northern Ireland Irish cricket captains Northern Knights cricketers Wicket-keepers