Five-nation pre-T20 World Cup qualifier warm-up tournament announced

Ireland, Oman, Nepal, Netherlands, and Hong Kong will contest a five-nation T20I series in Oman from 5 October to 10 October in lead-up to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019.

Each side will play four T20Is before heading to the United Arab Emirates for the Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier, which begins on 11 October. Six teams from the Qualifier will proceed to the main tournament, which takes place in Australia in October-November next year.

The Irish squad for the Qualifier will be selected next month and head coach Graham Ford believes that his side have improved a lot in the T20 format and will give a tough fight to the other teams in the qualification round.

“I’m very pleased to see this pre-Qualifier warm-up series announced - it’s not only important for our squad to play competitive T20 cricket before the World Cup Qualifier, but to do so in similar conditions to the UAE will be a crucial part of our preparations.

“We have put a lot of work into improving our T20 skills over the last two years and I think we’re starting to see the benefits of that work. Many of the players have grown impressively as cricketers and I feel that as a team there are exciting signs of progress.

“While it’s true that we haven’t played as much international T20 cricket as we would have liked over the past 12 months, what we have at the international and domestic level has really demonstrated the potential of the squad – we now need to focus on the task at hand and give ourselves the best shot at World Cup qualification,” he added.

Ireland will face Hong Kong in their opening encounter of the five-nation series on 7 October. Hong Kong are being coached by former Irish captain Trent Johnston, who took up the position last month, adding an extra layer of intrigue to the clash. All matches will be played at the Al Amerat Cricket Stadium in Muscat, Oman.