The two teams have played against each other in seven ODIs till date, with Ireland winning four and Afghanistan three. The recently-concluded series in Belfast finished with both sides winning two matches each.
John Bracewell, Ireland's head coach, was happy with the announcement and felt that it will give his players good exposure. This will be a great opportunity for the squad to test themselves in nine matches across three formats," Bracewell said. Games between the sides are always competitive and I expect more of the same in this series. Its always good for a teams development to test themselves in different conditions, and theres no better place than India to do that.
Im sure the younger players in particular will benefit from playing in subcontinental conditions and it will enrich their cricketing experience. It certainly promises to be an exciting months cricket and one which the players will relish, he added.
Ireland are currently placed 12th in the ICC ODI Rankings, two places below Afghanistan. Over the last five years, both teams have witnessed a meteoric rise in world cricket and have upset some mighty teams during this course of time. Time and again, they have appealed to the International Cricket Council (ICC) to arrange more matches with top teams across the world in order to allow their cricketers to grow.
Richard Holdsworth, Cricket Ireland's Performance Director, welcomed the fixtures announcement and said, This tour is exactly what we have been pushing for in recent times, where the national team plays across all three formats over a four-five week period, just like the full members have been doing for years.
Both sides are aspiring to become Test countries and to organise bilateral tours on a regular basis in series with context rather than focusing mainly on tournament cricket.
These matches will not only be part of the pathway to Test cricket for both countries, but also part of the World Cup qualification pathway. We know the Afghanistan Cricket Board shares our views and we look forward to the series being as highly competitive as the recently-completed ODI series in Ireland.
Ireland, who have time and again, caused major upsets in ICC events, are languishing at the 15th position in the Twenty20 International rankings, having played only 11 T20 matches in the last one year. Afghanistan, who have played 22 T20s in that period, are placed 9th - the best among Associate Nations, and above two Test-playing countries.
Shafiq Stanikzai, the CEO of Afghanistan Cricket, shared similar thoughts and said, We are really looking forward to hosting the Irish team. This will be a great contest between well-suited teams, continuing their close rivalry, and will also count towards qualification for the Cricket World Cup in 2019.
FIXTURES:
T20Is:
1st T20: March 8, 2017 in Greater Noida Cricket Stadium, India
2nd T20: March 10, 2017 in Greater Noida Cricket Stadium, India
3rd T20: March 12, 2017 in Greater Noida Cricket Stadium, India
ODIs:
1st ODI: March 15, 2017 in Greater Noida Cricket Stadium, India
2nd ODI: March 17, 2017 Greater Noida Cricket Stadium, India
3rd ODI: March 19, 2017 in Greater Noida Cricket Stadium, India
4th ODI: March 22, 2017 in Greater Noida Cricket Stadium, India
5th ODI: March 24, 2017 in Greater Noida Cricket Stadium, India
ICC Intercontinental Cup:
5th Round: March 28-31 2017 in Greater Noida Cricket Stadium, India
No comments:
Post a Comment