Ireland to take part in pentangular T20I series in Oman ahead of World Cup qualifier

The series offers a good chance for teams to fine-tune preparations for the global qualifier in UAE.

Ireland just can't afford to miss out on the T20 World Cup in Australia | Getty

Ireland has confirmed participation in a pentangular T20I series, also featuring Nepal, Netherlands, Hong Kong and hosts Oman, ahead of the T20 World Cup global qualifier in UAE later this year. 

The tournament set to be played from October 5-10 will offer four of these teams, excluding Nepal, a chance to fine-tune preparations prior to the marquee event in the gulf, beginning October 11 and running until November 3. 

"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," Ireland's head coach Graham Ford said on Monday (August 12). 

"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."

The Al Amerat Cricket Stadium in Muscat will host two games per day during the five-team competition. 

Itinerary:

Saturday, 5 October 2019 - Oman v Hong Kong, Ireland v Netherlands

Sunday, 6 October 2019 - Oman v Ireland, Nepal v Hong Kong

Monday, 7 October 2019- Netherlands v Nepal, Hong Kong v Ireland

Wednesday, 9 October 2019 - Ireland v Nepal, Oman v Netherlands 

Thursday, 10 October 2019- Netherlands v Hong Kong, Oman v Nepal

(Inputs from Cricbuzz)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 13 Aug, 2019

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