Ireland cricket face Lack of infrastructure and high cost of temporary venues
Ireland Cricket is set to host South Africa for a “home” series in Abu Dhabi due to a lack of infrastructure (stadiums) in Ireland.
The series was scheduled previously to be played on Irish grounds and consisted of three ODIs and three T20Is in July but will now play two ODIs and three T20Is.
The Ireland Cricket Team is at a loss of a permanent home ground and the expenditures of temporary infrastructures have resulted in the last six Tests of their men’s team being held overseas. Their first test victory was on foreign soil as well where they made history by defeating Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi.
The news of the South Africa series in Abu Dhabi comes with the announcement of a Test being hosted by Ireland for only the second time that is against Zimbabwe in July.
The first Test on Irish soil was back in 2018 at Malahide and since then, they haven’t played a Test on home soil. The rest of their six Tests have been held overseas.
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It was earlier announced that the Australia Tour of Ireland 2024 has been postponed for the foreseeable future.
“Because we have so few pitches here in Ireland that can host international cricket, we had to make a fairly difficult decision,” Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland CEO, said
The series was to start in August and comprised three ODIs and a single T20i and was what could’ve been their first-ever bilateral series.
Ireland was set to host 20 matches this year and now only four will be hosted by them. One is the test against Zimbabwe and three T20Is against Pakistan in May. The rest have either been canceled or postponed.
“While we work on longer-term solutions for some of these challenges – most notably continuing to advocate the Government for the proposed permanent stadium – we know we’ll have to explore ways to creatively increase our capacity to host an ever-increasing schedule in the short term.
“Continually reviewing how best to optimize our hosting arrangements for cricket in Ireland and playing a few of our home matches in neutral venues overseas is something we must continue to explore, as we have done with the South Africa series this year.” He further added.
Irish cricket suffers from a great loss and absence of venues and infrastructure as well as high costs of temporary infrastructures to host matches that are damaging their potential to rise.
