The rise of Gareth Delany, Ireland's young opener leaving his mark on the T20 Blast

NICK FRIEND: A youthful, fearless, six-hitting machine with a distinctive backlift and the ability to bowl useful leg-breaks, only 14 months into his international career, Delany hopes his success has opened the door for more of his Irish teammates

Niall O’Brien has vivid recollections of first coming up against Gareth Delany; it was September 2018 and his final game as a professional cricketer – a winner-takes-all clash that saw Leinster Lightning emerge as Inter-Provincial Cup champions.

He recalls the frustration of top-edging a paddle sweep to be caught at backward square leg, a shot that brought the curtain down on a fine career that included long stints in county cricket and 134 international caps. And he also recalls Delany – still now only 23 years of age – playing a knock that made him take notice. He smoked four sixes in an innings of 67, an effort that remains his highest score in List A competition.

After the game, he asked his brother, Kevin, Delany’s teammate at Leinster – and since at international level, what he made of the young opener.

“He was just like: ‘He’s going to be a serious player,’” O’Brien says. “Ireland see him as a massive cog in the wheel going forward.”

Two years on, Delany is a fully fledged international cricketer and finds himself preparing with Leicestershire for a T20 Blast quarter-final against Nottinghamshire. Along with Paul Stirling and national captain Andy Balbirnie, he is among the latest in a line of Irish cricketing trailblazers.

This season, following a change in the regulations around player registration in English domestic cricket, Irish players on the county circuit were faced with the choice of either giving up their international careers or being classed as overseas players.

Stirling, therefore, was left with little choice but to end his decade-long stay with Middlesex last autumn, before joining Northamptonshire for this summer’s T20 Blast in one of two overseas slots.

And when the impact of the coronavirus pandemic began to become clear, the door opened for others to join Stirling. “With the circumstances that we’re in, Gareth became a very attractive option,” adds O’Brien, who represents Stirling, Delany and Balbirnie as their agent.

All three have impressed; English cricket has known all about Stirling’s talents for some time – he sits inside the top 40 run-scorers in Blast history, while Balbirnie arrived at Glamorgan on the back of a match-winning ODI at the Ageas Bowl only a matter of weeks earlier.

The signing of Delany, then, was perhaps the most intriguing of the three: a young, fearless, six-hitting machine with a distinctive backlift and the ability to bowl useful leg-breaks, only 14 months into his international career. He had never been an overseas player before, complete with the additional burden that accompanies the role. Before Covid-19 changed the complexion of the summer, Kieron Pollard, Rashid Khan and D’Arcy Short were all due to feature in this year’s tournament.

^{Delany has represented Ireland 28 times in T20Is and ODIs}

“It’s always tough,” Delany tells The Cricketer. “You come over with the expectation of an overseas player.

“I suppose, never having played in this type of competition and having watched these guys, you come over with the preconceived idea that they’re way above, even though they’re not necessarily.

“I did feel that pressure coming over. It didn’t help that the first game didn’t go too well. But in the second game – the first full game, I managed to perform well and help the team win, which put my nerves at ease.

“It does affect you – every time you go out, you feel like you have to make a significant contribution because that’s essentially what you were brought over to do. It’s trying to get used to that and almost forgetting about it when you go out to play, trying to play your best game and hoping that’s enough to make a difference.”

There is even more to it for an Irish player, flying the flag as the first official Irish overseas players. As O’Brien recognises, it is no longer the same as during his own playing days, when he enjoyed spells with Kent, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. There was pressure, but a different kind.

And so, the trio’s success has been welcome. “It’s massively important,” adds O’Brien. “If the lads had come over and not performed, then it might have impacted not only on their opportunities next year, but maybe other Irish players.

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“For Leicestershire and Glamorgan to sign up an Irish lad as an overseas player, I’m sure there were people raising a few eyebrows – not people in Irish circles or people who watch them game-in-game-out, but a lot of credit must go to Leicestershire and Glamorgan.”

Delany smashed 68 in a win against Durham that was televised on Sky Sports, adding 64 two games later in a last-ball victory over Yorkshire. All told, 193 runs at an average of 24.12 represents a decent return, hitting a boundary every 4.6 deliveries faced for good measure.

Does he feel as though his performances have opened doors for others to follow?

“I hope so,” he smiles. “At times, you almost feel as though you’re inferior. Even being over here, some of the guys are not aware of what the standard of cricket is in Ireland. It is high.

“There are young guys who are of a very good standard, who I think would do very well in county cricket, never mind in T20 Blast cricket. Obviously, it’s tough with only two or three overseas slots at each team and obviously they’re going to want to go for guys who are going to bring in crowds, which is tough for Irish players.

“But I hope in this Blast, the three of us who are over here have been able to show the standard of cricket there is in Ireland. There are a lot more players like us, who would love the opportunity and would take the opportunity.”

^{Delany has hit two half centuries for Leicestershire this season}

O’Brien agrees. “I still think that counties, if they can afford it, will go for the big names, but I wouldn’t be surprised next year if there are six or seven Irish guys playing as overseas players in various competitions – not just T20.

“I know that people like Balbirnie want to play first-class cricket, List A cricket. I think this is an exciting time for Irish cricket.”

With finances likely to be restricted next year as the economic fallout to the pandemic rears its head, deals for further Irish players could well make sense financially, as well as in cricketing terms. He points specifically to the “second overseas bracket” in the Blast as “being made for those guys”.

In any case, Leicestershire’s pursuit of Delany began well before this summer. During O’Brien’s stint working in the Bangladesh Premier League, he spoke at length to Paul Nixon, the county’s head coach. “He asked me about this lad who bowls leg-spin for Ireland and whacks it,” O’Brien says. “The initial conversation started with him.”

Then in January, Delany struck Hayden Walsh Jr for four consecutive sixes during a T20I in St Kitts against West Indies. And while he struggled for runs in the ODI series against England earlier this summer, his unusual stance alone made an impression.

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Holding his bat well above his head at the top of his backlift, the unusual setup resembles both that of a golfer near the peak of his swing and a baseball hitter. Curiously, it has its roots in the aftermath of a serious knee ligament injury he suffered as a teenager while playing rugby.

“I got injured pretty badly at the age of about 18, so I missed a whole season of cricket,” he laughs. “I came back and almost forgot how to hold a bat at some stage. It took a lot of work with my dad; he would throw me balls and I’d try to hit those balls as far as I could.

“It wasn’t anything intentional or like I was purposely trying to get my hands that high. It just came to be the way it got. Initially, I didn’t even realise the way they were. The lads get a good laugh of it as well and they slag me off about it, but it seems to be working out all right at the moment, so I’ll keep with it.”

Others have suggested that it gives his backswing an easier pathway to the ball and makes him a more intimidating figure for bowlers as they approach the crease to a bat-wielding hitter.

“I think a couple of the lads have mentioned that point to me while I’ve been over here,” he adds. “I wouldn’t really have thought about it in the past, but I think it naturally comes down in a straight line as a normal shot, so I don’t think there’s anything at the point of contact that’s too different.”

^{The 23-year-old played in all three ODIs against England earlier this summer}

Some who have witnessed his nine sixes for Leicestershire might wish to disagree with that assertion. One particular stroke off the bowling of Yorkshire’s Jordan Thompson was hammered back over the seamer’s head amid audible gasps from Delany’s watching teammates as it cannoned into the roof of the stand.

By his own admission, though, there is still plenty of improving to do. He is not yet sure of how best to tackle his role in 50-over cricket.

“I’m still trying to compete for that spot,” he says of the opening position in Ireland’s ODI side, having featured ahead of “great mentor” William Porterfield against England.

“I’m still not sure if I’ve worked out how I want to play my 50-over cricket, so I’m still trying to learn that.

“Essentially, in T20 cricket there is no real time to think – it’s just a case of go, go, go. Whereas 50-over cricket is twice and a bit as long, so you have to work through the gears, so I’m still trying to get confidence in the way I want to play it.

“Obviously, there is a role where you can be aggressive in those first ten overs, but it is also a case of having the ability when the bowlers are on top to see through the new ball and come out the other side of it.”

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He is well-placed to make those adjustments, coming from a family of cricketers. His sister, Laura, captains Ireland Women and holds one of six professional contracts awarded by Cricket Ireland, while he and his cousin, David, have played eight T20Is alongside one another.

His leg-spin, too, remains a work in progress. Rob Cassell, Ireland’s former bowling coach, played a fundamental role in its progression into a worthy option when Delany first came into the national training squad in the winter of 2018. He has taken 19 T20I wickets since with an economy of just 7.41 – no mean feat for a part-timer.

“Rob took me aside and said that my leggies – the way I bowled them – wouldn’t be any use in T20 cricket,” he recalls. “They were too slow and had too much loop. Him and Graham Ford worked with me to try to get them out quicker and flatter – almost Rashid Khan, pace-wise, trying to emulate that style. I’m still trying to get used to that and trying to work on that.”

Delany, though, seems a quicker learner than most. Fifteen months on from an international bow as a relative unknown in the subdued surroundings of Bready CC, he is readying himself for a night in front of the cameras at Trent Bridge with a Finals Day spot up for grabs, having thrived under the pressure that comes with his overseas label. Whichever way it goes, he has made his mark.

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