Dunin and DUBAI The International Cricket Council (ICC) has revealed the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup first-round groups, match schedules, and locations. Ireland is slated to play against India, Pakistan, the United States, and Canada in Group A.
Despite the fact that the USA and the West Indies will co-host the competition, all four of Ireland’s first-round matches—two in Florida and two in New York—will take place in the US.
Ireland‘s opening Group Stage schedule is as follows:
India Men vs. Ireland Men, June 5, New York; 10 a.m. start
June 7: 10 a.m. ET Ireland Men vs. Canada Men in New York
June 14: 10 a.m., Florida; USA Men vs. Ireland Men
June 16; Florida; 10 a.m. kickoff: Ireland Men vs. Pakistan Men
The top two teams from each group move on to the group stage of the second round of the event, which consists of four groups of five teams. The semifinals will be held in Barbados on June 29th, with the top two teams from the second round of the group stage moving on to the semi-finals.
Ireland will play two official warm-up matches against opponents at locations that have not yet been disclosed before the tournament proper begins.
Groups in the first round are:
Group A: Ireland, USA, Canada, Pakistan, India, and
Group B: Scotland, Oman, Namibia, Australia, and England
Group C: Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan, Uganda, West Indies, and New Zealand
SA, SL, and Bangladesh make up Group D. Nepal, the Netherlands
Heinrich Malan, the Ireland men’s head coach, responded to the draw by saying:
“The announcement of the World Cup draw and the start of serious preparations are always exciting times for fans and players alike. The possibility of being selected for a group that includes Pakistan and India is alluring and should draw sizable numbers. It also adds some spice to play one of the co-hosts on their home ground, and Canada has experience with this format, so it should be a difficult match.
The expression that no World Cup match is easy may be overused, but our group’s assignment perfectly captures that idea. But one hidden weapon we could have in our arsenal is the sizable Irish expat community in the US, and we heartily urge everyone in the diaspora to wear green and show up to cheer on our boys.
We are creating an exciting, tenacious, and courageous kind of cricket in the shortest format, as we showed on the just-finished tour of Zimbabwe. Over the next few months, we intend to further develop this.
But for the time being, we start specifically preparing for our now-identified opponents. The build-up to the event promises to be exciting for cricket fans, beginning in March with a much-awaited multi-format series against Afghanistan. I myself can’t wait for 2024 to begin and see where this amazing group of guys can go.
India
