Andrew Balbirnie (born December 28, 1990) is an Irish cricketer, the current captain of the Irish cricket team in all formats. Balbirnie is a right-handed batsman and occasional wicket-keeper.

He was born in Dublin and graduated from St. Andrew's College. He was one of 11 cricketers to face Ireland in Ireland's first friendly against Pakistan in May 2018. In December 2018, he was one of 19 players to receive a key contract from Cricket Ireland for the 2019 season.

Domestic career

Balbirnie has represented Ireland at the U-19 level and played nine Youth One Day Internationals. In 2009 he was the captain of the Irish U19 World Cup qualifying team. The victory in the tournament enabled the Irish U19s to compete in the 2010 U-19 World Cricket Championship.

On August 15, 2017, Balbirnie achieved its first prime century when Ireland played against the Netherlands in the 2015-17 ICC Intercontinental Cup. Balbirnie was the leading run-scorer in the 2018 Inter-Provincial Trophy tournament with 262 runs in six games. He was also the leading run-scorer for Leinster Lightning in the 2018 Inter-Provincial Championship with 302 runs in four games. In July 2019, Balbirnie was selected to play for the Dublin Chiefs in the first edition of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was canceled.

International career

Balbirnie was a member of the Irish 2010 ICC World Cricket League winning team. During the tournament, he made his A-List debut for Ireland, including his One Day International debut against Scotland. During the tournament, he played three other One Day Internationals.

In January 2015, Balbirnie was named to Ireland's 15-man squad for the 2015 World Cricket Championship. Balbirnie made his Twenty20 International debut against Scotland on June 19, 2015, despite being unable to play due to rain. In February 2016, Balbirnie was named to Ireland's 15-man squad for the 2016 T20 World Cup.

Balbirnie was part of the Ireland A-Team that toured Bangladesh in October 2017 to play a top-notch game and five limited-overs games against the Bangladesh A-Team.

In January 2019, Balbirnie was named to the Irish squad for her one-off test against Afghanistan in Dehradun, India. In May 2019 Balbirnie played his 100th international match for Ireland in the opening game of the Ireland Tri-Nation Series 2019 against the West Indies. In September 2019, Balbirnie was named to the Irish squad for the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in the United Arab Emirates.

In November 2019, Balbirnie was named Irish Captain of All Formats. On July 10, 2020, Balbirnie was called up to Ireland's 21-man squad to travel to England to train behind closed doors for the ODI series against the English cricket team. In the third and final game of the series, which Ireland won with seven wickets, Balbirnie scored his 2,000. Run in ODI Cricket.

On July 13, 2021, Balbirnie led Ireland to its first ODI win against South Africa. He also made his seventh ODI century in the game, scoring 102 out of 117 deliveries before being fired by Kagiso Rabada. In September 2021, Balbirnie was named captain of the provisional Irish squad for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021.