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Cricket Ireland today hailed a new era for the sport in Ireland with the release of the International Cricket Council’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) 2018-2023 – the first time Ireland has been included in this important schedule for world cricket.
The FTP is a schedule of international cricket tours for ICC’s full members with teams playing bilateral cricket home and away between May 2018 and March 2023. It covers all three formats of the game. By being granted Full Membership of the ICC in June 2017, Ireland now enters the FTP process for the first time.

Warren Deutrom, Chief Executive of Cricket Ireland, 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. This does not include any additional bilateral matches we will play against Associate Member sides, ICC events/qualifying tournaments, or other bilateral content against those Full Members where a playing window is yet to be finalised.”

“All in all, this is a significantly-enhanced programme for players, coaches and administrators, and a feast of regular world-class cricket for our valued fans and stakeholders.”

“In the Test arena we will be looking forward to playing our second-ever Test against Afghanistan in February 2019. A Test match between Ireland and England is also scheduled to take place in England during this period, with a time, date and venue still to be advised.”

“While we will typically play one home Test per year in Ireland, we are looking at building that up over time and have two home Tests scheduled in the 2022 season.”

“In the white-ball formats we are looking at playing all but one of the Full Member nations in ODIs or T20I format across the life of this FTP. This is an incredibly exciting and varied programme that we firmly believe will help make cricket more visible and mainstream in Ireland over the next five years.”

Richard Holdsworth, Performance Director at Cricket Ireland, reflected on the FTP:

“The creation of an FTP is an incredibly complex process. It has involved 12 national cricket bodies negotiating fixtures and dates across a five-year period. There are so many variables involved during discussions, and one small change by one nation can often have flow-on effects for a number of other planned fixtures for other nations.”

“I’d like to acknowledge our colleagues in the 11 other national cricket boards for their welcoming approach and support to Ireland during my numerous discussions in this complicated process.”

“As it stands, Ireland men’s team is set for around 180 days of international cricket against other Full Member nations up to March 2023 – this is a scale of cricket unknown to Irish cricket fans and one we welcome as we begin our journey as a Full Member.”

“Finally, we are also trying to be cognisant of our role in helping Associate members now that we are a Full member. In that regard, in addition to the T20I series we’re currently playing in the Netherlands, over time we hope to make further announcements about fixtures against our neighbours in the Associate world.”

Key features of the FTP

The structure of the FTP includes:

• ICC Cricket World Cup – 2019 and 2023
• ICC World T20 – 2020 and 2021
• World Test Championship (note: Ireland does not feature in this element)
o Cycle 1 – 2019-2021 (final 2021); Cycle 2 – 2021-2023 (final 2023)
• All bilateral Tests, ODIs and T20Is between Full Members outside of the above competitions

Key highlights for Ireland from the FTP

Over the life of the FTP, Ireland will play:

• 13 Test matches
• 62 one-day internationals
• 65 T20 Internationals.

This excludes any matches as part of ICC Cricket World Cup and World T20 events or qualifying tournaments.

Ireland is currently scheduled to face 10 of the 11 Full Member nations in varying formats over the period of the FTP, with Australia currently the only nation not currently featuring in the current schedule.

Full FTP Schedule for Ireland

The breakdown of fixtures year-on-year is:

* indicates ICC events over the period

NB: A Test match between Ireland and England is scheduled to take place in England during this period. Time, date and venue will be advised in due course.

The Future Tours Programme has been released
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