Dublin, Nov 30 (IANS): Cricket Ireland on Wednesday confirmed that the senior men's team will play a three-day first-class match against English county side Essex in the lead-up to Lord's Test match against England in 2023.
The match will be played between May 26-28 at The Cloud County Ground in Chelmsford, ahead of the Lord's Test against England from June 1-4. Ireland will then return to play three ODIs against England on September 20, 23 and 26, in Headingley, Trent Bridge and Bristol respectively.
"If fans felt 2022 was a busy year on the international cricket front, they will be delighted with next year. Ireland Men will undertake four tours, compete in two world cup qualifiers and play several home series. Several of these exciting fixtures will be announced in early 2023."
"A key addition to our playing schedule in 2023 is our return to red-ball cricket, and we would like to thank Essex County Cricket Club and the ECB for hosting us for a first-class fixture in the lead-up to our Test match at Lord's," said Richard Holdsworth, High Performance Director for Cricket Ireland.
In the 2019 Lord's Test match between the two teams, England emerged victorious in the one-off Test match by 143 runs despite being 85 all out in first innings, with Ireland being bowled out for 38 runs in their second innings. England's left-arm spinner Jack Leach had been adjudged 'Player of the Match' for his knock of 88 in second innings while opening the batting.
"It will have been 17 years almost to the day since Ireland last played at Chelmsford and we all look forward to our return to the historic ground. What is more important, though, is the quality of the opposition that our boys will face as part of their preparations for the England Test."
"Essex finished fourth in the County Championship Division One this year and are a strong red-ball side with a proud history having won the County Championship eight times, most recently in 2019."
"Also pleasing news is that Irish fans can now purchase tickets to each of our ODIs in England later in 2023 - these fixtures are immediately before competing teams head to India for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, a tournament that we will be aiming to be part of," added Holdsworth.
Ireland were the only team in the Men's T20 World Cup in Australia to defeat eventual champions England by five runs as per DLS method at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.