England look set to host Ireland for a four-day Test match next summer, with the fixture slated to take to place at Lord’s in July during the short gap between the end of the home World Cup and the Ashes series that follows it.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has confirmed that talks are under way for a game that, though shortened in length, would still have full Test status and would see 98 overs scheduled to be bowled each day.
For Ireland it provides another chance to show their credentials since they were elevated to the top table last year, having given Pakistan a scare during their inaugural Test in Malahide last month before succumbing to a five-wicket defeat.
England will be able to give their all-format players vital exposure to the red ball before taking on Australia, with the first half of their summer dominated by 50-over cricket; the World Cup, which begins on 30 May and runs until the final on 14 July, is preceded by a five-match one-day series at home to Pakistan.
Though the Ashes dates are yet to be published – only the five host venues of Edgbaston, Old Trafford, Headingley, Lord’s and the Oval are confirmed – there are expected to be around 17 days between the World Cup final and the first Test.
Four-day Tests, which have been publicly endorsed by the ECB chairman, Colin Graves, were given the green light by the International Cricket Council last year before South Africa and Zimbabwe contested the first since 1973 in December.They will not, however, be used for the ICC’s new nine-team World Test Championship that begins in 2019. The Ashes series in England will be the curtain-raiser for this competition, in which teams will play three series at home and three away over a two-year cycle — not all plays all — before the top two meet in a final in 2021. – theguardian
Add new comment