George Ross Adair (born

Holywood, County Down Holywood ( ) (Irish: ''Ard Mhic Nasca'', meaning 'Height of the Son of Nasca'. Latin: ''Sanctus Boscus'', meaning 'Holy Wood') is a town in the metropolitan area of Belfast in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a civil parish and townland of 7 ...

, 21 April 1994) 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 striki ...

er and former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He plays 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 domestic cricket. His younger brother,

Mark Adair Mark Richard Adair (born 27 March 1996) is an Irish international cricketer from Northern Ireland, currently playing for Northern Knights in domestic cricket. He has played county cricket in England for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. He is a ...

, is also a cricketer, who has 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 all formats.

Cricket career

He made his

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 innin ...

debut for the

in the

2020 Inter-Provincial Trophy The 2020 Inter-Provincial Trophy was the eighth edition of the Inter-Provincial Trophy, a Twenty20 cricket competition played in Ireland during August and September 2020. It was the fourth edition of the competition to be played with full Twenty ...

on 20 August 2020. He made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

debut on 30 June 2021, for Northern Knights in the 2021 Inter-Provincial Cup. In December 2022, he earned his maiden call-up to the

Ireland cricket team The Ireland cricket team represents all of Ireland in international cricket. The Irish Cricket Union, operating under the brand Cricket Ireland is the sport's governing body in Ireland, and organises the international team. Ireland participa ...

for their T20I series against Zimbabwe. He made his

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) debut for Ireland, on 12 January 2023 in the first T20I match.

Rugby career

Adair played schools rugby for

Sullivan Upper School Sullivan Upper School is a mixed non- denominational voluntary grammar school in Holywood, Northern Ireland, and has approximately 1,100 enrolled pupils. The school motto is ', Irish for "with the gentle hand foremost". History Sullivan Low ...

, impressing in the

Ulster Schools' Cup The Ulster Schools' Challenge Cup is an annual competition involving schools affiliated to the Ulster Rugby, Ulster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. The Schools' Cup has the distinction of being the world's second-oldest rugby competitio ...

in 2011. He played for the Ulster Ravens in the

British and Irish Cup The British and Irish Cup was an annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs and the reserves or developing teams from professional clubs from Great Britain and Ireland. It took place for the first time in the 2009 ...

, and made one senior appearance for

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

in the

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

, scoring a try against

Dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

in 2015. He played for

Jersey Reds Jersey Reds is a rugby club based in Jersey, Channel Islands that currently competes at the RFU Championship, which is the second tier of English professional rugby. Until season 2022/23, the professional arm of Jersey Reds was part of Jers ...

in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

for two and a half years, making more than 40 appearances before a degenerative hip condition ended his professional career. Following two operations, he returned to rugby at an amateur level with

Ballynahinch RFC Ballynahinch Rugby Club is an Irish rugby union club based in the County Down town of Ballynahinch in Northern Ireland. Founded in 1954, the club is affiliated to the Ulster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. The first team currently pl ...

, with whom he won the Ulster Senior League in 2019, and was named Club Player of the Year in the Ulster Rugby awards.Darren Fullerton
"2019 Ulster Rugby Awards: Retiring captain Rory Best is named Heineken Personality of the Year"
Belfast Live, 9 May 2019

References

External links

* 1994 births Living people Irish cricketers Cricketers from Northern Ireland Cricketers from County Down Northern Knights cricketers Ireland Twenty20 International cricketers Irish rugby union players Rugby union centres Rugby union wings Rugby union players from County Down Ulster Rugby players Jersey Reds players People educated at Sullivan Upper School {{Ireland-cricket-bio-stub