George Henry Dockrell (born 22 July 1992) is an 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 st ...

er. Dockrell is right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and

slow left-arm orthodox Left-arm orthodox spin, Left-arm off spin also known as slow left-arm orthodox spin bowling, is a type of left-arm finger spin bowling in the sport of cricket. Left-arm orthodox spin is bowled by a left-arm bowler using the fingers to spin ...

bowler who plays international cricket for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

after learning his cricket at

Leinster Cricket Club Leinster Cricket Club was founded in Rathgar in 1852. The Dublin sports club now hosts tennis, squash, table tennis, bowls and cricket. The Leinster Sports Club complex is situated in the Observatory Lane ground, in the heart of Rathmines. The ...

, Dublin. He was a member of the class of 2010 in

Gonzaga College Gonzaga College SJ is a voluntary Catholic boys' secondary school in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1950, Gonzaga College is under the trusteeship of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), one of five Jesuit secondary schools in Ir ...

, Dublin. 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.

Early career

Dockrell has represented Ireland from U-13 level upwards. In 2009, Dockrell was part of the

2010 U-19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier The 2009 ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifier was an international cricket tournament played in Canada from 1 to 13 September 2009. All matches were held in Toronto. The tournament served as the final state of the qualification process for the 2010 ...

winning squad. Victory in this tournament allowed Ireland to take part in the

2010 U-19 Cricket World Cup The 2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was the eighth edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup and took place in New Zealand. Since 1998, the tournament has been held every 2 years. This edition had 16 teams competing in 44 matches between 15 ...

, where Dockrell made his Youth

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

debut against South Africa U-19s. Dockrell played a further three Youth One Day Internationals in the tournament. Dockrell made his debut for Ireland A in 2008. The same year he was invited to coaching sessions with

Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Somerset. Founded in 1875, Somerset was initially regarded as a minor ...

Domestic and T20 career

were interested in Dockrell since he was 15. On 18 July 2010, it was announced that Somerset had offered Dockrell a two-year contract. Speaking of his aims, Dockrell said "My ambitions are to keep making progress with Ireland, but also to get into a county first team by developing all aspects of my game". Commitment to Ireland's internationals in the Intercontinental Cup limited Dockrell's availability for Somerset towards the end of the 2010 season. During the tournament, Dockrell suffered a dislocated shoulder. The rehabilitation period meant he missed much of his first season with Somerset. He featured in a single County Championship match, although his appearances in limited overs games were more frequent, playing in the semi-final of the twenty20 cup and the Champions Trophy. 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. Dockrell was one of four Ireland players included in the 12-man squad. Fellow left-arm spinner

Murali Kartik Murali Kartik (, born 11 September 1976) is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who sporadically represented the national team from 2000 to 2007. He was a specialist slow left arm orthodox bowler known for his loopy trajectory a ...

left Somerset at the end of the season, giving Dockrell the opportunity to establish himself in the team. In Somerset's opening match of the

2012 County Championship The 2012 County Championship season, known as the LV= County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 113th cricket County Championship season. Warwickshire won their seventh County Championship title. It was contested through two divisions ...

Dockrell took 6/27 in the second innings against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

to help his side to a six-wicket victory. At the end of the 2015 season, Dockrell was released by Somerset. Dockrell was the leading run-scorer and wicket-taker in the

2018 Inter-Provincial Cup The 2018 Inter-Provincial Cup was the sixth edition of the Inter-Provincial Cup, a List A cricket competition played in Ireland. It was held from 28 May to 9 September 2018. It is the second edition of the competition to be played with List A st ...

, scoring 231 runs and taking ten wickets in the tournament. In November 2018, he was named the Men’s Inter-Provincial Player of the Year at the annual Cricket Ireland Awards. In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Dublin Chiefs 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. On 4 May 2021, during the 2021 Inter-Provincial Cup, Dockrell scored his first century in List A cricket, with 100

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

against

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 ...

International career

By early in 2010, Ireland had lost their two most experienced spinners, Kyle McCallan and Regan West, to retirement and injury respectively. For the

2010 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier was played from 9–13 February 2010 in the United Arab Emirates and a part of ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier series. The top two teams progressed to play in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, the international champ ...

and the 2010 Quadrangular Twenty20 Series in Sri Lanka, young spinners Dockrell and Gary Kidd were chosen. Dockrell made his debut for the senior Ireland team in the 2010 Quadrangular Twenty20 Series in Sri Lanka. Dockrell's debut

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...

match against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

was also his debut

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 th ...

. Dockrell took figures of 2/11 in the match as Ireland won by 5 wickets. Dockrell's second Twenty20 match came against Sri Lanka A, where he claimed a single wicket. After Impressing in the

, Dockrell was selected in the Ireland squad for the

2010 ICC World Twenty20 The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was the third ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies between 30 April and 16 May 2010. It was won by England, who defeated Australia in the fina ...

, playing a starring role as the tournament's youngest player, taking four wickets against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

and troubling

Kevin Pietersen Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is a cricket commentator, conservationist, and former England international cricket player. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England bet ...

in a tight bowling display in the abandoned encounter with

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Dockrell reflected that "Taking three wickets against West Indies gave me a huge boost in confidence. I was very nervous before that game, but by the time we came to play England I was a lot calmer. I was really happy with how the tournament went for me overall". He was forced to miss Ireland's

ODI ODI may refer to: * Object Design, Incorporated, a defunct database software company * One Day International, cricket match * Open Data Institute, a UK not-for-profit company promoting open data * Open Data-Link Interface, an implementation of ...

encounter with

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

on 17 June 2010 because he was sitting a

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

exam in the

Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certifica ...

. In May 2011, Dockrell was selected in Ireland’s 15 man squad for the

2011 Cricket World Cup The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai ...

. Australia hosted the 2012 Under-19 World Cup in August 2012 and Dockrell was named as the captain for the tournament. In January 2019, he was named in Ireland's squad for their one-off Test against Afghanistan in India. He made his Test debut for Ireland against Afghanistan on 15 March 2019. In September 2019, he was named in 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, Dockrell 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 February 2021, Dockrell was named as the captain of the Ireland Wolves' squad for their red-ball matches against Bangladesh. However, the day before the squad departed for Bangladesh, it was announced that Dockrell had opted out of the tour. The same day,

Ruhan Pretorius Ruhan Pretorius (born 2 March 1991) is a South African cricketer. Since 2015, he has played cricket in Ireland, and in 2019 moved to Northern Ireland. In November 2020, he was released by his club, North Down, due to financial reasons. Pretoriu ...

was added to the squad and

Harry Tector Harry Tom Tector (born 6 December 1999) is an Irish cricketer. He was part of Ireland's squad for the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He made his full international debut for the Ireland cricket team in September 2019. In January 2020, he was on ...

was confirmed as captain. In September 2021, Dockrell was named in Ireland's provisional squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventu ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dockrell, George 1992 births Living people Cricketers from County Dublin People educated at Gonzaga College Irish cricketers Ireland Test cricketers Ireland One Day International cricketers Ireland Twenty20 International cricketers Somerset cricketers Sussex cricketers Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Leinster Lightning cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers