Ireland and Bangladesh postpone May fixtures amid growing coronavirus concerns

The sides had been set to play three ODIs in Stormont before embarking on a T20 series across England from May 14-29

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Cricket Ireland have announced the postponement of their first home international fixtures of the 2020 summer.

Bangladesh had been due to travel to the UK in May to play a trio of one-day internationals in Stormont, followed by T20 fixtures at The Oval, Chelmsford, Bristol and Edgbaston.

The T20 leg of the tour had been scheduled to take place in England due to a shortage of international-standard pitches for the summer months, with New Zealand and Pakistan both preparing to visit Ireland later in the summer.

However, following Friday's announcement from the England and Wales Cricket Board that it would be delaying the start of its professional programme until at least May 28 owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the CI and the Bangladesh Cricket Board have issued a statement confirming that their series (scheduled to run between May 14-29) will also be rearranged. 

"Once the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic was understood, and the advice of both governments and partner boards was sought, it became increasingly unlikely that this series could proceed as scheduled," said Warren Deutrom, the Irish board's chief executive.

"We have a responsibility to protect the wellbeing of players, coaches, fans and the wider community, and will not hesitate to take a safety-first approach to our operations over coming months.

"We will continue monitoring the situation, and will liaise as necessary with relevant sports bodies, public health agencies and our stakeholders here and abroad, and provide further updates on the home season in due course.

"We would like to thank the BCB for their helpful cooperation in reaching this decision, and we shall work with them at establishing new dates for the series when we are all in a position to plan for the future with greater certainty."

Ireland had already moved to call off a planned men's tour of Zimbabwe set for later this month, while its women's side had been expected to play a 50-over quadrangular series in Thailand with Zimbabwe, the Netherlands and their hosts early in April.

Today's news comes as the first confirmation of changes to international fixtures in May, with England's men and women currently remaining set to commence their summer campaigns against the West Indies and India respectively in June.

Cricket Ireland previously announced its offices would close until March 29, with staff instructed to work from home and training sessions suspended for the same period.

Their Bangladesh counterparts have today adopted similar measures, confirming that employees would work remotely until further notice wherever possible, beginning on Sunday.

The BCB has also postponed the Dhaka Premier Division List A tournament with immediate effect, delaying all fixtures up until the fifth round of matches on the weekend of March 27-28. The side will also no longer be touring Pakistan for a one-off ODI and Test match in Karachi in April in light of the crisis.