Wilson takes over Ireland T20I captaincy from Porterfield

Gary Wilson has been named Ireland's new T20I captain, replacing William Porterfield who stepped aside to focus on leading the Test and ODI teams.

"It has been a huge honour to captain my country across all formats for the past 10 years, and I have been fortunate enough to captain Ireland at the last five World Twenty20's," Porterfield said. "With the qualifiers only a year or so away, I feel that now is the right time for me and the team for a fresh voice and leader in this format. I will now focus solely on my batting in a format that I love playing. I would like to thank everyone for their support over the past 10 years and indeed in making this decision. Finally, I would like to wish Gary all the best in what is an exciting time for him."

Porterfield, who succeeded Trent Johnston, has captained Ireland across all formats since 2008, including 56 of their total 61 T20Is. He also leads their batting charts in the format. Under his captaincy, Ireland have won 26 T20Is, the most significant of them coming during the 2009 World T20, where they knocked Bangladesh out in the group stage to make the Super Eights. More recently, in 2014, they beat world champions West Indies in their own backyard.

Wilson, 32, is also among the leading run-scorers for Ireland in T20Is, with a tally of 891 in 46 innings. He is also the current captain of the Derbyshire T20 side and has also performed the role for Surrey in the past. Wilson's first assignment as captain of Ireland will be the tri-series against Netherlands and Scotland starting on June 12 at Rotterdam.

"I am absolutely honoured to be asked to undertake this role. With 16 months until the qualifying tournament for next World Twenty20 tournament in Australia, I believe this is a timely opportunity to prepare the squad for an important new phase in Irish cricket," Wilson said. "I hope my experience and leadership in this form of the game will be of benefit in developing the next generation of leaders and am looking forward to the first step in this journey - the Tri-Series in the Netherlands."

Ireland tri-series squad: Gary Wilson (capt), Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase, George Dockrell, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O'Brien, William Porterfield, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, James Shannon, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Craig Young