Biography

Mark Richard Adair is an Irish international cricketer who was born on 27 March 1996 in Holywood, Northern Ireland. Adair is a right-arm medium-fast bowler who bats right-handed and can be useful with the willow down the order. Adair is one of the very few players who has represented the senior national side in all three forms of international cricket. Currently, he plays for Northern Knights in Irish domestic cricket. In January 2020, he was one of nineteen players to be awarded a central contract from Cricket Ireland, the first year in which all contracts were awarded on a full-time basis.

Adair's first wicket in first-class cricket was that of former English opener Marcus Trescothick. He made his T20 debut on 27 May 2016 for Warwickshire against Worcestershire Rapids in the 2016 NatWest t20 Blast and his List A debut in the 2017 Royal London One-Day Cup on 10 May 2017. In May 2022, in the 2022 Inter-Provincial Cup, Adair scored his first century in List A cricket, with 108 runs against Munster Reds.

In June 2016, Adair was named in Ireland's ODI squad for their series against Afghanistan, which took place the following month, but he did not play. In May 2019, he was added to Ireland's squad for the one-off ODI against England and went on to make his ODI debut for Ireland against the same opposition on 3 May 2019. In July 2019, Adair was named in Ireland's Test squad for their one-off match against England at Lord’s. He made his T20I debut for Ireland against Zimbabwe on 12 July 2019. He made his Test debut for Ireland, against England, on 24 July 2019. The following month, he was awarded a central contract by Cricket Ireland.

In September 2019, Adair was named in Ireland's squad for the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in the United Arab Emirates. He was the leading wicket-taker for Ireland in the tournament, with twelve dismissals in eight matches. On 10 July 2020, Adair was named in Ireland's 21-man squad to travel to England to start training behind closed doors for the ODI series against the England cricket team. Adair was added to Ireland's squad for the third and final ODI of the series. In September 2021, Adair was named in Ireland's provisional squad for the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and then again a year later for the 2022 edition of the same tournament ‘Down Under’ in Australia.