A right-arm medium-fast bowler who comes from a family of cricketers, Barry McCarthy was first spotted by Ben Stokes in 2015 when he recommended Durham to sign the pacer which the club eventually did. 

McCarthy penned down for Durham and had a stellar first season, bagging his maiden five-wicket haul in the domestic circuit against Lancashire, leaving a solid impression on the selectors.

Following a great domestic season, the Dublin-born was drafted into the Ireland squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka in 2016. He made his debut in the first ODI game and picked up 2 for 69 in the match. He was wayward at times but impressed everyone with his pace.

The following year the speedster made his T20I debut against Afghanistan, and in his first-ever T20 match, McCarthy grabbed 4 wickets and rattled the Afghan top order with hostile pace bowling.

However, in the second T20I game against the Afghans, McCarthy recorded the most expensive bowling figures in a T20I game (69 runs), which was later on broken by Kasun Rajitha against Australia in 2019.

In 2019, McCarthy was named in the Ireland squad ahead of the play-off matches in the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifiers. He replaced David Delany in the squad who was ruled out due to an injury.

A decent pace bowler whose confidence was shattered in only his second T20I game after going for 69 in his four overs. Since then, McCarthy has worked hard on his death bowling and is looking to cement his place permanently in the national setup.

(As of April 2021)