Ireland Cancel Test Against Bangladesh and T20I Series Against Afghanistan in 2020 Due to Financial Issues

Ireland Cricket board has shelved their plans to host Bangladesh for a Test match and are also set to skip a T20I series against Afghanistan in 2020. The home Test match against Bangladesh has been converted into a T20 International match. The information was shared by Ireland Cricket Board on their official website. Ireland Cricket Board has taken the decision due to the financial issues. Ireland Cricket got full member status by ICC in 2017. They have also hosted many international cricket matches in the past.

Cricket Ireland informed about the decision to change Bangladesh Test into a T20I and cancelling Ireland vs Afghanistan T20I series 2019 on their official Twitter account. In the tweet, the Ireland Cricket Board also shared their official statement over the matter. Andrew Balbirnie Replaces Gary Wilson to Lead Ireland in All Formats. 

No IRE vs AFG!

Warren Deutrom, Chief Executive of Cricket Ireland, informed on Sunday (December 16) that Ireland Cricket will require significant investment to can make regular Test cricket financially sustainable. “We were proud to become world cricket’s 11th Test playing nation and have a long-term commitment to that format of the game. Both fans and players alike have enjoyed the spectacle of Ireland competing in the Test arena, however, we have been very careful in our approach to Test cricket and understand that it is a long-term proposition to build up a competitive side in the long game, and will require significant investment in permanent infrastructure before we can make regular Test cricket financially sustainable", he said.

“We have additionally been very open about the financial and resource constraints that we operate within, and especially a number of financial headwinds that we have faced as we transition from an Associate Member to the operations required of a Full Member", an official statement from Ireland Cricket Board further read.

Ireland Cricket Team, popularly known as Men in Green and Green-Whites, acquired Test status in 2017. They got Associate Member's status by ICC in 1993 and became a full member in 2017. Currently, Irelandstands on 12th spot in Test rankings, 11th rank in ODIs and 14th rank in T20Is. They last played a Test match against England at Lord's in London in July 2019.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 16, 2019 08:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).