James McCollum

James McCollum is an Irish batting all-rounder who also bowls some effective seam-ups when required. He has maintained an average of 55 in 12 first-class matches, showcasing his consistency at the domestic level, including a couple of hundreds and six fifties in just 19 innings. His 5 first-class wickets came in a surprise five-wicket haul against the North West Warriors.

McCollum made his first-class debut on 28 March 2017 for Durham MCCU against Gloucestershire as part of the Marylebone Cricket Club(MCC) University series. Before he was handed a first-class debut, he played for the Northern Knights in the 2016 Inter-provincial Championship in Ireland. His Twenty20 debut came for the Northern Knights in the 2017 Inter-Provincial Trophy on 23 June 2017.

He made his List A debut for the same side in the 2017 Inter-Provincial Cup in August 2017. He also ended up at the top of the run-charts for the Northern Knights in the 2018 Inter-Provincial Championship, racking up 442 runs in just four games. As a result of these performances, in December 2018, he was one of nineteen players to be awarded a central contract by Cricket Ireland for the 2019 season. In January 2019, he was named in Ireland's Test and One Day International (ODI) squads for their series against Afghanistan in India - a bit of a shock, since he has been unable to carry his first-class performances to the List A and T20 formats.

Written by Rishi Roy