Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) on Thursday announced a white-ball series against Ireland starting January 8 next year. The white-ball series will comprise of four ODI matches to be played on 8, 10, 12 & 14 January.
The matches will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium under the bio-secure bubble with the series slated to be streamed by the ITW Consulting.
Khalid Al Zarooni, the Vice Chairman of the Emirates Cricket Board said, “We are thrilled to be in a position to announce this fixture against ICC Full Member Ireland. Collectively, our management teams have been working tirelessly to bring this series to fruition in Abu Dhabi, and one we extend our sincere gratitude to all involved. We are extremely thankful to Cricket Ireland for their commitment to this series and to Abu Dhabi Sports Council, and the UAE authorities for supporting this tournament.”
Ireland cricket team is currently under isolation after one of the women cricketers tested positive for COVID-19. Both men and women’s teams are currently in Dublin-based training camps before the men’s team will fly to the UAE next month.
Ireland head coach, Graham Ford, said: “It goes without saying that 2020 has been a difficult year, but the lads have acquitted themselves well and can be proud of what they have managed to achieve.”
“We’ve beaten the T20 world champions, the West Indies, in a T20I in the Caribbean, beaten Afghanistan for the first time in a T20I in the subcontinent, and beaten the current World Cup champions England in their own backyard – those wins have helped build self-belief within the players and have demonstrated the progress we are making as a squad”
UAE preliminary squad:
Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza, Mohammad Usman, Chirag Suri, Muhammad Boota, Sultan Ahmad, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmad, Zawar Farid, Aryan Lakra, Ansh Tandon, Karthik Meiyappan, Rahul Bhatia, Alishan Tandon, CP Rizwaan, Basil Hamid, Matti Ullah, Fahad Nawaz, Sanchit Sharma.
