Ireland’s cricketers to play at least 140 matches under new FTP

Ireland will play at least 12 Test matches over the next four years, including one away to England next summer under the new world cricket Future Tours Programme that was unveiled on Wednesday.

The Test against England was not part of the 137 games listed for Ireland to play up until February 2023, but the Test is set to to take place at Lord’s next July in between the final of the 50-overs World Cup and the start of Australia’s Ashes series against England, a match that will kick-off the beginning of the new World Test Championship.

Ireland will not play in that event but will play at least another 12 Test matches in the four years from 2019, including an away match against Sri Lanka in February 2020 and a home Test against New Zealand in July 2022.

The bulk of Ireland’s FTP programme will be taken up by limited overs cricket, with 62 One-Day Internationals and 63 Twenty20 Internationals, playing 10 of the other 11 full member nations; the exception being Australia. The period also includes two World Twenty20 Championships in the space of 13 months, in Australia in October 2020 and India in November 2021 and two qualifiers for those events.

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Cricket Ireland will also look to add to the fixture list by organising bilateral series against fellow full member countries and those from Associate level.

Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom, was delighted at the release of the FTP.

“From the moment we were granted full membership of the ICC, two of the key priorities for Cricket Ireland were to play our first Test match and to negotiate a multi-format fixture schedule as part of the FTP.

“We have now delivered both – and we believe the players and fans of Irish cricket will be excited by the comprehensive programme ahead.

“We are looking at a minimum of 140 men’s matches across the three formats from 2018 to early 2023, both home and away.”

Ireland's FTP Schedule 2018
Jun: (h) v India home 2xT20
Aug: (h) v Afghanistan 3xODI, 3xT20

2019
Feb: (a) v Afghanistan 1xT; 5xODI; 3xT20
May: (h) v England (ODI); v Bangladesh 3xODI; (tbc) v Bangladesh & Afghanistan 2xODI
June: (h) v Zimbabwe 3xODI, 3xT20 October: (tbc) World T20 qualifier

2020
Jan: (a) v West Indies 3xODI 3xT20
Feb: (a) v Sri Lanka 1T Mar: (a) v Afghanistan 1xT 3xT20
Apr: (a) v Zimbabwe 1T 5T20
May: (h) v Bangladesh 1xT 3xODI 3xT20
Jun: (h) v New Zealand 3xODI 2xT20
Aug: (h) v Afghanistan 3xT20; (h) v Pakistan 2xT20
Sep: (a) v Eng 3xODI Oct: World T20, Australia.

2021
Jan: (a) v Afghanistan 1xT 3xODI 3xT20
Jun: (h) v South Africa 3xODI 3xT20; (a) v Netherlands 3xODI
Aug: (h) v Zimbabwe 1xT 3xODI 5xT20
Oct: (a) v Afghanistan 3xT20 Nov: World T20, India.

2022
Jan: (a) v West Indies 3xODI 3xT20
Feb: (tbc) World Cup qualifier
Apr: (a) v Zimbawe 1xT 5xODI 3xT20
Jul: (h) v New Zealand 1xT 3xODI
Aug: (h) v Afghanistan 1xT 3xODi 3xT20; (h) v South Africa 2xODI
Oct: (a) v Bangladesh 1xT 3xODI 3xT20

2023
Feb: (a) v Sri Lanka and South Africa 2xODI