The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday released a new four-year Future Tours Programme (FTP) for the men's game from 2023 to 2027. In this wide-ranging scheduling, Ireland Men are slated to play 113 matches against Full Members between May 2023 and April 2027.
In all, Ireland Men are set to play 12 Test matches, 54 one-day internationals and 47 T20 Internationals against fellow Full Member sides. In an action-packed start to the new year, Ireland Men start 2023 with tours of Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as part of the current 2019-2023 FTP, before the new 2023-2027 FTP begins in May.
Ireland starts the new FTP with a home white-ball series against Bangladesh, then immediately travel to England for a one-off Test match in June 2023. Ireland will also tour England for three ODIs before taking on Zimbabwe for one Test, three ODIs and three T20Is later in the year.
January 2024 will then see Ireland play Afghanistan away for one Test, three ODIs and three T20Is, one of their four series against the Asian team during the five-year cycle. "The release of the new ICC Future Tours Programme marks yet another milestone in the progress Irish cricket has made over recent years.
The quality and the volume of international cricket for Irish fans to enjoy is something previous generations only dreamt about.""Starting with Bangladesh at home, then heading straight to a Test match against England is a mouth-watering start to the new programme - and all of that following three tours during the early months of the year."
"During the period 2023-2027, Ireland Men will play matches against all 11 of the other Full Member sides, in 113 fixtures scheduled outside of ICC tournaments. Pleasingly, this will also include 12 Test matches a format we as a country are keen to pursue more over coming years, whilst understanding that qualification for world cups remains a key priority," said Warren Deutrom, Chief Executive of Cricket Ireland.
Ireland, who gained Test status along with Afghanistan in 2017, will also play Tests against New Zealand and Zimbabwe at home, while their other limited overs fixtures include those against Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, England, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.
"It's also important to note that the FTP announced today does not include bilateral fixtures against Associate nations, which will also be added to Ireland Men's playing schedule over coming years. This men's FTP, combined with the women's FTP announced yesterday, means we have an incredibly busy few years ahead for Irish cricket fans to enjoy."
"The ability, as a Full member, to be able to lock in multiple years' worth of bilateral cricket is important for Cricket Ireland, as it allows us to plan ahead and pursue revenue streams with a greater level of certainty.
This revenue, from areas such as broadcast and sponsorship, goes back into the game at all levels, helping us to deliver on growing the game across Ireland," concluded Deutrom.The exact dates of the series are for the Members to announce in due course.
The announcement of the new Men's FTP comes a day after the first ever Women's FTP was announced.The programme outlined does not include the fixtures against Associate Members, of which will be announced in due course.
The FTP fixtures are all outside of further international matches to be played as part of ICC events - the first such ICC event may be the Cricket World Cup Qualifier in June-July 2023 (if Ireland doesn't automatically qualify through the World Cup Super League).