Ireland shelve Bangladesh Test and Afghanistan T20 series due to "financial constraints"

Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom says pressures since gaining full member status has led to the cancellation and amendment to the fixture list

Ireland have been forced to cancel the one-off Test against Bangladesh and the T20 international series against Afghanistan scheduled for next summer due to financial pressures.

The Men in Green were due to host The Tigers in just their second home red-ball fixture before taking on the Afghans in three T20s later in the year.

Yet to benefit from an increase in ICC funding and hurt by the postponement of the inaugural Euro T20 Slam, Cricket Ireland have been forced to make some difficult decisions.

The estimated cost of hosting a Test match comes in at €1 million and with no guarantee of any windfall from the game, it has been converted to a T20 fixture to go alongside the other white-ball matches against Bangladesh.

"The first area of prioritisation for 2020, has been white-ball cricket over red-ball," Deutrom said in a statement. 

"Like all Irish cricket fans, we would love nothing more than to be competing on all three fronts - Tests, ODIs and T20Is. Unfortunately, our financial constraints have led us to cut the home Test match next year.

"As the Test does not form part of the World Test Championship, the one-off match lacks context. For effectively a 'friendly', the expected costs for hosting the Test would be over €1 million, with little expectation of creating revenue streams to cover the costs of hosting."

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Ireland were already due to face Bangladesh in three ODIs and three T20s as they look to build momentum ahead of a sixth successive appearance at a 20-over World Cup.

Matches against New Zealand and Pakistan will also represent an opportunity to prepare for the tournament, however, the games against Afghanistan have been cut altogether.

"Those tough decisions also include having to prioritise some white-ball cricket over others," Deutrom added. "With Bangladesh and NZ coming over for important ODIs, it makes sense to extend their tours with complementary T20Is. Similarly, Pakistan is the No. 1 T20I team in the world and have proven popular visitors here over the years.

"However, we have notified the Afghanistan Cricket Board that we shall not be in a position to host them for the five planned T20Is in 2020. We have been regular and frequent opponents of the Afghans every year for a long time now, and we shall be again in future. However, needs must at this juncture to ensure we are operating as a responsible governing body operating within our means.

"The ODIs and remaining T20Is next year both have greater context and direct connections to two upcoming World Cups. The T20Is will form essential match play experience leading into the T20 World Cup in October, while the ODIs will become important with the start of the new World Cup Super League next year, which is the next 50-over World Cup's qualification process.

"This will mean that in 2020, three of the Bangladesh ODIs and the three New Zealand ODIs next year directly count towards World Cup qualification."

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