Cricket Ireland have confirmed games against Scotland and Netherlands in a six-match T20 Tri-Series in Malahide next month. In what will act as competitive match preparation for the T20 World Cup qualifiers in October, Ireland’s governing body have confirmed the Tri-Series tournament.
The series hastily replaces the previously-organised Euro T20 Slam which was cancelled in the week – just 16 days before the first scheduled games were supposed to take place. The new T20 Tri-Series on the outskirts of Dublin will see Ireland, Scotland and Holland playing each other twice, with games taking place on six successive days between September 15-20.
All matches will start at 1.30pm and it’s also been announced that all games will be free admission for fans. Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said: “As both a goodwill gesture and a demonstration of their commitment to the Slam starting next year, the organisers of the Slam have agreed to support the operations of the new series.
“The series will be played under similar conditions as last year’s Tri-series between these sides which was hosted in the Netherlands (and won by Scotland) and will be an ideal opportunity for relatively evenly matched teams to fine tune their games ahead of the qualifier.
“The postponement of the Slam and the opportunity for our players to mix with the world’s best not only put that on hold for another year, it robbed us of the chance to prepare properly for the T20 World Cup qualifier in October and put ourselves back on the world stage in Australia next year.” Ireland will be hoping to qualify for the 2020 T20 World Cup, which is being held in Australia, with the qualifiers scheduled for the United Arab Emirates in mid-October.
