Ireland cancel Test match against Bangladesh

Cricket Ireland have cancelled the scheduled single Test match against Bangladesh in May 2020. The board's chief executive Warren Deutrom cited financial difficulties for cancelling the scheduled match. Bangladesh were scheduled to have a series of one Test, three ODIs and three T20s. Instead of the Test match Ireland are thinking about an option to play an extra T20I. 

The board decided to prioritise white-ball cricket over the red ball as a preparation for the upcoming consecutive world T20s in 2020 and 2021 and also for the high cost of arranging a Test match. The expense of arranging a Test match can reach up to 1 million Euro in Ireland. 

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

Also, Ireland want to start their preparation for the 2023 ODI World Cup as well. They will also host Pakistan for a T20 series, in addition to limited-overs series against Bangladesh and New Zealand in the first part of the summer, But the proposed visit of Afghanistan has been cancelled.

"Those tough decisions also include having to prioritise some white-ball cricket over others," Deutrom said. "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." added Deutrom.