Cricket Ireland to enter development squad in 2022 European Cricket Championship

Cricket Ireland has today confirmed that it has agreed to enter a representative team in the 2022 European Cricket Championship in September 2022. The pan-European competition is the national partner competition to the European Cricket League – a club cup competition which is currently underway.

The competition will feature 21 teams from a range of countries including: Ireland, England, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, France, and Scotland. Teams will be placed into four groups of five teams, with the England XI receiving automatic qualification for finals week.

Ireland’s team will feature in Group A alongside Spain, Austria, Czech Republic and Portugal. Group A’s fixtures will be played between 12-16 September 2022 at Cartama Oval in Spain. Finals Week will be 10-14 October 2022.

Richard Holdsworth, High Performance Director for Cricket Ireland, said:

“Cricket Ireland is pleased to be able to send a team to the next European Cricket Championship. We will be putting together an emerging talent squad for what will be a great international cricket experience for a squad of players keen to develop their careers.

 “The team behind the European Cricket Championship, and its sister club competition – the European Cricket League – have been exceptional to work with and deliver a great tournament that showcases the growing depth of talent in European cricket.

 “We will select the squad in coming months and look forward to the opportunity to compete at a pan-European level once more.”

Meanwhile, Ireland’s national team has taken steady strides in recent years and would like to grow even more in coming times. In fact, the Irish team has even gained the Test status and is now recognized as a full-member team. The side has also suprised prominent teams time and again. They have defeated teams like Pakistan, England and West Indies in World Cup events.

Team Ireland featured in the qualifying stage of the T20 World Cup 2021 but couldn’t make a place in the Super 12 stage. This year’s T20 World Cup is slated to take place in Australia and Ireland need to clear the qualifiers to feature in the global competition.