Ireland Announces Bumper Home Season In 2019

[Stoneman Returns]

The Windies have now been confirmed as the fifth team to tour Ireland in 2019, in an international men’s schedule of 16 fixtures to be played in Malahide, Clontarf, Bready and Stormont. The other teams that will travel to Ireland in 2019 are England, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.
Coming close on the heels of Ireland’s elevation to the status of a Test-playing country – along with Afghanistan – the update has caused great excitement in the country.


2019 home schedule

England Tour Of Ireland

3 May Ireland v England (Only ODI)

Ireland, Windies & Bangladesh ( Tri Nation Odi Series)

5 May Ireland v West Indies (ODI T
7 May West Indies v Bangladesh (O
9 May Ireland v Bangladesh (ODI Tr
11 May Ireland v West Indies (ODI T
13 May West Indies v Bangladesh (O
15 May Ireland v Bangladesh (ODI Tr
17 May Final (ODI Tri-Series)

Afghanistan Tour Of Ireland ( 2 Match Odi Series)


19 May Ireland v Afghanistan (ODI)
21 May Ireland v Afghanistan (ODI)

Zimbabwe Tour Of Ireland ( 3 Odis & 3 T20 Series)

1 July Ireland v Zimbabwe (ODI)
4 July Ireland v Zimbabwe (ODI)
7 July Ireland v Zimbabwe (ODI)
10 July Ireland v Zimbabwe (T20I)
12 July Ireland v Zimbabwe (T20I)
13 July Ireland v Zimbabwe (T20I)


“While 2018 was a breakthrough year in many ways for Irish cricket, 2019 is set to be another momentous year for our sport,” said Warren Deutrom, Chief Executive of Cricket Ireland.
“Next season, we will host five Full Member nations – with a number of the teams having not played here for many years. Zimbabwe’s last match in Ireland, for instance, was in 2003, while a senior West Indies side hasn’t been seen in on-field action in Ireland since 2007.”

[The Robot]

Away Series :

Ireland Against Afghanistan In India 2019 ( 3 T20Is, 3 Odis & One Off Test.)

23 February: 1st T20I - Ireland v Afghanistan
24 February: 2nd T20I - Ireland v Afghanistan
26 February: 3rd T20I - Ireland v Afghanistan


2 March: 1st ODI - Ireland v Afghanistan
4 March: 2nd ODI - Ireland v Afghanistan
7 March: 3rd ODI - Ireland v Afghanistan
9 March: 4th ODI - Ireland v Afghanistan
12 March: 5th ODI - Ireland v Afghanistan

Only Test Match :

17-21 March: Test Match - Ireland v Afghanistan

July - Ireland Tour Of England


24-27 July: Only Test : Ireland V/s England, Lord's

[eugene]

I am surprised Ireland aren't playing any home tests.

[sam_ahm]

Would have liked to see Zimbabwe playing a test here. Dissapointing. 3 ODIs and 3 T20s is also a bit disappointing, 5 ODIs and 3 T20s could still have been better. These teams should play each other more often

[TapsC]

They fought for so long for test status but they barely play. Whats the point of the only test being against Afghanistan? How many times did they play each other in the intercontinental cup? I guess test cricket is just too expensive to host.

I think Kriterion's idea of a test triseries every year with Zimbabwe Ireland and Afghanistan is the only way we will see regular test cricket played by those 3 sides.

[Kriterion_BD]

They fought for so long for test status but they barely play. Whats the point of the only test being against Afghanistan? How many times did they play each other in the intercontinental cup? I guess test cricket is just too expensive to host.

I think Kriterion's idea of a test triseries every year with Zimbabwe Ireland and Afghanistan is the only way we will see regular test cricket played by those 3 sides.

That Test tri series would be awesome.

I don't think its a funding issue. Ireland and Afghanistan are now fairly well funded...I think they are now getting about 75% of what ZC gets wheras before they were getting 10% or so. Its simply a fact that both AFG and IRE want to ease themselves into Test cricket.

The other thing is, as packed as the schedule is, there is no way that those teams can line up 6 Tests a year unless they play exclusively amongst each other, and then its basically just the InterContinental Cup all over again.

I think Afghanistan are only playing 17 Tests in the next 4 year FTP cycle. Ireland are playing about 19, and Zimbabwe something like 22-23. I think those numbers look pretty balanced. I suspect in the next FTP, we'll see all 3 teams playing around 6 Tests a year.

[foreignfield]

I am surprised Ireland aren't playing any home tests.

I'm not surprised. Ireland wanted Test status because of what goes with it, not because they are so damned keen on sitting through five days of rain-breaks.

Don't get me wrong, ZC would love to ditch Test cricket at home for good if they could and still get enough money in to loot.

Ireland and Afghanistan are now fairly well funded...I think they are now getting about 75% of what ZC gets wheras before they were getting 10% or so.

That's good and well-deserved, but it also highlights what a farce cricket's closed shop mentality really is. The divide between members and paupers should never have been this big in the first place.

[Kriterion_BD]

That's good and well-deserved, but it also highlights what a farce cricket's closed shop mentality really is. The divide between members and paupers should never have been this big in the first place.

Well thats capitalism for ya.

However, teams like UAE or Hong Kong simply don't earn any money for themselves. It might seem unfair on teams like Ireland and Afghanistan, but they put in their time (aprox a decade for each, maybe 6-7 years for Afghanistan), and now they get to reap the rewards. Ireland now gets a bumper home season and Afghanistan will probably get increased financial payouts via Asia Cups and increased bilaterals.

But I think 10 years of consistent performance before elevation to Test level is pretty fair, financially speaking.

Also I think the ICC has always had - especially more so now status post Big 3 takeover - a merit based financial structure. So Associates like Scotland and the Netherlands will get more funding than Kenya or Brunei. And rightly so, IMO. Guatemala should not be getting even half the funding that Nepal gets.

[eugene]

I don't even know why cricket has degrees of members. Just make everyone a full member and let them figure out who to play. No other sport feels the need to have so many levels of membership.

[Black Mamba]

UAE Cricket Board might be among the top 3 richest cricket board for last 8 years, despite not playing the game as full member, but always have been number 1 choice as the nuetral venue . UAE Cricket board earning lot from PCB, Afghanistan Cricket Board, ECB by hosting their internationals and domestic fixtures and also from various T20, T10, Desert T20 tournaments.

UAE Cricket should look after their own team, now to push them at the international level as they are playing as associates for long time