Ireland will play their first Test match on home soil for more than six years this summer after the confirmation yesterday that a five-day match against Zimbabwe will go ahead in Belfast on July 25-29.
As reported in the Indo last week, the board of Cricket Ireland reversed controversial plans to balance the books by axing the showpiece after a backlash from players and supporters alike.
The Stormont ground will become the 123rd venue to stage a Test match - and the second in Ireland - but the good news was tempered by the cancellation of the white-ball leg of the Zimbabwe tour.
Fans were left asking: how easy would it have been to tack on another week to the tour and play an ODI or T20 series against Ireland’s closest rivals, especially with the temporary seats and other facilities already in place at Stormont?
As things stand, Zimbabwe will fly 5,500 miles to play a Test that could be over in three days.
Another puzzler from yesterday’s announcements is the setting aside of EUR 480,000 from this year’s record budget of EUR 16.1 million to ‘help enable loan repayments to the ICC and return Cricket Ireland to a positive reserve position’.
While financial prudence is generally to be applauded, the priority of the governing body is surely to play and stage cricket matches.
Meanwhile, skipper Laura Delany was in a buoyant mood as Ireland prepared to take on the USA in Abu Dhabi today in their final warm-up match before the T20 World Cup qualifier gets under on Thursday.
“These tournaments can be nerve-wracking but that’s exactly where you want to be as a team,” Delany said.
“Qualifying would be massive for us as a group, and for women’s cricket at home To get into a World Cup means that games will be shown on TV and hopefully that will increase the profile of our game.”
Ireland open their campaign against their hosts, the United Arab Emirates, with Group B matches to follow against Zimbabwe, Vanuatu and the Netherlands, with the top two sides going into sudden death semi-finals to reach the tournament proper.
