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The Irish men’s side is set to host South Africa in England this summer. Cricket Ireland has confirmed what The Irish Times reported on Tuesday morning, namely that Bristol will host a pair of T20 internationals in early August. The games will be played following the white-ball portion of South Africa’s tour to the UK.
Fixtures against India and New Zealand have been confirmed to take place in Ireland, while Afghanistan will also be visiting. This means new head coach Heinrich Malan will have an early assignment against his former employers, New Zealand. Despite the Afghanistan Cricket Board earlier announcing a series that included a Test, no home Test match will be taking place this summer.
A tour to Zimbabwe which was due to take place in April/May has been postponed. Zimbabwe previously had to cancel the visit of Afghanistan due to issues securing Decision Review System technology, though it is believed that this had no bearing on the move to postpone Ireland’s visit.
This was instead done with a view to spreading out fixtures into the 2023 season and to help with the cost of playing internationals. Bangladesh were due to come for a World Super League series but that has also been pushed back to 2023 for similar reasons.
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The total fixture list includes a pair of T20Is against India at Malahide, three ODIs against New Zealand at the same venue plus three T20Is in Stormont as well as the South Africa games in Bristol. Dates and venues for the Afghanistan series are still to be confirmed, though it has been confirmed that this will consist of five T20Is.
A busier schedule for the nation’s women’s side is also on the cards. At least one opponent has been locked in for a bilateral series, while two more are expected to be confirmed shortly. More details on the women’s games are expected at a later date.
Cricket Ireland announced on Monday details of their budget for the 2022 season, including €317,000 for the improvement of facilities. Hybrid pitches will be installed at the high-performance training centre as well as at the international grounds in Malahide, Stormont and Bready, yet despite this investment not all of Ireland’s home games will be held on these shores.
When detailing the new facilities investment package and other budgetary items on Monday, Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom admitted that a recent review conducted by Portas Consulting with input from former men’s head coach Adi Birrell made for ‘frank’ and ‘uncomfortable’ reading when it was recently presented to the board.
Deutrom has also stated that the issue of facilities is “the number one issue on my desk”. A 72 per cent increase on facilities spending is the first action taken as a result of the recommendations of the review.
However, in this year’s budget only the international grounds will see any development. The improvement of first-class, interprovincial and Super Series grounds will not be budgeted for until next year.
In addition, the new hybrid pitches that will be installed will be for training purposes only since the International Cricket Council does not allow for international matches to be played on such surfaces. Regardless, it is expected that these new pitches will vastly improve training facilities and will alleviate the pressure on ground staff, leading to better quality match surfaces.
Ireland men’s home summer schedule
Sunday, June 26th: Ireland vs India, 1st T20I, Malahide
Tuesday, June 28th: Ireland vs India, 2nd T20I, Malahide
Sunday, July 10th: Ireland vs New Zealand, 1st ODI, Malahide
Tuesday, July 12th: Ireland vs New Zealand, 2nd ODI, Malahide
Friday, July 15th: Ireland vs New Zealand, 3rd ODI, Malahide
Monday, July 18th: Ireland vs New Zealand, 1st T20I, Stormont
Wednesday, July 20th: Ireland vs New Zealand, 2nd T20I, Stormont
Friday, July 22nd: Ireland vs New Zealand, 3rd T20I, Stormont
Wednesday, August 3rd: Ireland vs South Africa, 1st T20I, Bristol
Friday, August 5th: Ireland vs South Africa, 2nd T20I, Bristol
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